The Tale of Two Soulmates
by tie-dye-flag
Summary: Patti had always loved her father's fairy tales of another world where he embarked on a journey to save his mother. Her dad told her they weren't real, but she still wished to see the magical place in person. However, one day she discovers some hidden treasures and realizes those stories were truer than she thought. She discovers another world...and another 'her'.
1. Chapter 1: The Girl of Magic

**AN: Hi, everybody! I'm back with another multi-chapter Ni No Kuni fanfic! This time I have a couple of OC's in the spotlight. It's a NNK sequel! However, this fic isn't strictly connected to my other fics like "Of Machines and Familiars" or "Frozen Love". It depends on how you look at it and it's not necessary to have read them beforehand to fully enjoy this story. I was also kinda inspired by this other NNK fic called "Ni No Kuni: The Heart of Doubt", another interesting fic.**

**Pairings are mentioned and OC's are used in this story. **

**I do not own Ni No Kuni or it's original characters. I'll make notes at the bottom of each chapter about the OC's.**

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><p><strong>Ch 1: The Girl of Magic<strong>

Pale moonlight spilled into the bedroom, flooding the floor with its radiance. The night sky wasn't the only light source, however-a cute lamp standing on a bedside table was turned on as well. Its bright light cast over the pages of a thick book open in a red-haired man's hands while a young girl of ten or so with caramel colored hair stared at him with awe at his words, reading aloud the story of the crimson-and-gold covered book.

_"The scruffy thief backed away on the dock, eyeing his surroundings for a way out of this mess. Meanwhile the blonde, fairy, and wizard glared at the lanky man._

_ 'Hey!' Oliver cried. 'Give that back!' He thrust his hand forward for the portrait still dangling in the thief's hand._

_ 'What's the matter? It's just a portrait of some pretty boy.' The tall pickpocket held the flimsy paper to his face as if it was nothing of great importance. 'No need to get your knickers in a twist.'_

_ 'It's important! It must be!' The boy pointed accusingly at the man. 'Why would you steal it if it wasn't?'_

_ Smirking, the thief waved the paper in the air. 'Let's just say I can't have it doing the rounds.' His dark eyes suddenly lit up. 'Tell you what-I'll buy it off you. That's fair, right?' He cocked his head hopefully._

_ But the wizard wasn't ready to give up. 'No! It's not for sale! We need it!' Right behind him, Esther and Drippy nodded in agreement. _

_ 'Oh yeah?' The man took a few cocky steps forward with a hand on his hip. 'Need it for what? Go on, this should be good.'"_

"I know!" The young girl suddenly chirped from under the flower-patterned quilt. "They need it to find the man in the picture! It's a picture of the Great Sage Marcassin! In the city of pigs!"

"That's right, Patti." The man with red hair nodded. "That's what they told the thief. But how did he react?"

"That grumpy thief laughed in their faces, but then decided to take them to the sage."

"You remember every single detail, don't you?" The adult smiled as the girl's eyes sparkled back at him.

"Mm-hmm. I love your stories so much." She hugged a stuffed toy in the shape of some unknown animal close to her heart. "Especially Mr. Drippy. He's so funny!"

"I'm glad you like them, Pat." He gently rubbed his thumb against the pages.

"I wish I could visit that world…" She whispered. "Even if it doesn't exist, it still sounds so magical…"

Unknown to the girl, the man's eyes flashed with a strained emotion. However, he replied, "…I wish so too, sweetie. But do you remember how you felt when you heard those words?"

Patti nodded with curious eyes that bore a strong resemblance to the man's dark blue eyes.

"Well, that's the magic in books. They can take you anywhere and let you feel everything in that world. Or any world, really." He placed his hand on top of her smaller one. "So every time I read you that story, or every time you read that book, it takes you to another world."

"Another World…"

"Yup, that magical, wonderful world." He suddenly stood up from the bedside, closing the book that was titled in gold letters _The Another World_. "Well, that's all I can read for tonight."

"Huh? Why?" Patti crawled out from the blankets. "You usually read more than that."

"Uncle Phil needs me to help him carry this old couch to a friend's house tomorrow, and we have to leave in the morning, so I'm going to bed early."

"Oh, okay…Will I see you tomorrow morning?"

"I don't think so, Pat… I'll be waking up pretty early…" He bent over and tucked the girl back into her bed. "So, I guess this is good night…and good morning."

She yawned, "Okay…Good night, dad…and good morning."

The man ruffled her hair with his hand before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "Night, Patti. Sweet dreams."

He flicked off the light, slipped the book back onto the bookshelf next to his daughter's bed, and quietly shut the door behind him.

Patti closed her eyes, already imagining the world described so vividly in the book. A world where familiars were noble creatures from your heart, where dragons fly through the skies, where the most unlikely people can become your friends…

And where you could meet another you, or a soulmate.

"I wonder what my soulmate would be like in that world…" She murmured. Pulling the covers closer to her small body, she turned over and was embraced into a gentle, deep slumber.

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><p>Patti woke up to the smell of sizzling bacon and cooking eggs. Her nose tugged her stubbornly from her warm bed and into the Saturday morning. She walked down the wooden stairs to the first floor of the home and turned to the kitchen, where a blonde woman in a blue dress was hovering over the stove.<p>

"Good morning, sleepyhead." She turned to the girl with a spatula in her hand.

"Good morning, mom…_yawn…_" The young girl rubbed her eyes from sleep.

"Maybe some breakfast will wake you up." The mother flipped some sunny side up eggs onto a pair of plates with some crunchy bacon. She handed one plate to the girl.

"Here you go."

"Wow, thank you, mom!" Patti sniffed at the meal. "Mmmm…it smells so yummy."

"You can go ahead and eat it at the table."

"Okay!" Patti placed the plate onto the already set kitchen table and slid into her chair. Curling her hands around a fork and knife, she began to eat the delicious breakfast. However, after a few bites she noticed the empty chair lonely standing at her right.

The chair that her father usually occupied.

"Did Dad already leave?" The girl turned in her chair to her mother, who was pouring some hot tea into a red mug.

"Yes, just a few minutes ago." The mother picked up her cup and a glass of orange juice. She turned around and placed the glass next to her daughter's plate. "He said he'd be back before dinner."

"Okay." Patti took another forkful of eggs into her mouth. The woman took the chair directly in front of her and sipped at her tea.

"What about you, mom? Are you going anywhere today?"

"Well, actually Daisy and I were going to run some errands in a little bit." She said as she gazed into her mug and then back at Patti. "Do you want me to pick something up for you while I'm out?"

The girl swung her legs in thought before nodding. "No, thank you."

Just before she could take another bite of her eggs, the doorbell chimed.

"Oh! That must be Daisy." The woman got up from her chair. Patti stuffed the last of her meal into her mouth and followed her mother to the door. When she opened the door they were greeted by a lady with short brown hair.

"Good morning, Mrs. Daisy." Patti stared up to the lady's face.

"Good morning to you too, little Miss Patti!" She chirped. "How are you today?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"Wonderful." Daisy turned to the mother. "Are you ready to go, Myrtle?"

"Mm-hmm." The blonde bent down to Patti and looked at her sincerely in the eye.

"We'll be gone for a couple of hours, Patti. Don't answer the door and call Grandpa and Grandma if you need anything. Okay?"

Patti nodded her head surely. The mother smiled and pecked the girl's cheek before standing back up. She grabbed her pearl-colored purse hanging off a coat rack and hoisted it over her left shoulder.

"Be good, Pat!"

"I will!"

"Bye, sweetie." Myrtle waved at her daughter, who waved back.

"Bye Mom! Bye Mrs. Daisy!"

Grinning, the woman gently closed and locked the door, leaving the brown haired girl alone in the house.

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><p>With enthusiastic fingers, Patti scribbled her blue crayon against the paper. She laid out on her stomach near the fireplace of the living room while her legs swung back and forth in the air behind her. Humming a melody to herself she continued to draw on the paper. After a few strokes, the butterfly sported blue wings.<p>

The little artist smiled and reached for another crayon. She suddenly froze, noticing the yellow one was missing.

"Huh? Where did it go?"

She looked around. A flash of yellow caught her eye by the fireplace.

"Ah! There it is!"

The girl crawled over and reached for the crayon. She raised the brightly colored wax to her face. Her gaze then shifted to the ash-covered fireplace.

"Maybe I should draw the fireplace next…" For a moment she pierced her curious gaze into the dusty area. She carefully poked her head into the fireplace and cranked her head to look up the chimney. All she found was an endless pit of darkness. Squinting her sapphire eyes, she glanced at the ashes below her nose.

Those very ashes began to tickle her nose teasingly. A swimming sensation blossomed behind her face.

"Ah…ah…ah…ah-CHOO!"

Her sneeze sent clouds of ashes up in the air. She covered her coughing mouth with her arm and waved the dust away with her free hand.

When the ash had settled back onto the ground, she sniffed and returned her gaze into the fireplace.

"…Huh?"

Patti narrowed her eyes. Something unusual was sticking out from beneath the grey powder. She dusted away the rest of the fine particles, uncovering the treasure hidden in the fireplace. Sitting in the dead center was a thick brown book with golden designs on the cover. There appeared to be some sort of strange writing on the front, like from a civilization long forgotten.

Blinking, Patti pulled the book out from the fireplace and inspected every single side.

"A…book? But how? Wouldn't it be burned up?"

Thirsty for answers, she gingerly opened the book. When she did, a foot long stick stuck between the pages suddenly tumbled out. The girl picked it up in her small hand. It was actually a nice stick, straight as a needle and not too thick or thin. A few tiny branches coiled around it like decoration, along with barely visible markings.

"…What's this?" She tried to comprehend what the faded runes said, but it was not use; they were simply too faint to read.

The girl shifted her attention back to the book. The page illustrated a rune and some words in English below. In the lower right corner was a detailed drawing of a person with a wand standing with outstretched arms. Before him or her the sky opened up like an enormous door.

Patti snatched up the book, eagerly scanning her eyes over the sentences.

"_Step out of one world and into another._ _The gateways formed by this spell are the only way to travel between this world and one of the many other worlds in existence. Casting Gateway requires you to focus your thoughts upon the world to which you wish to travel. It is also imperative to imagine that you have already left the world in which you cast the spell."_

"A…spell?" She whispered. "Gateway…?" Suddenly the child gasped. Patti dropped the book and wand and dashed upstairs. Feverishly searching her bookcase, her finger came to rest on a thick red book before pulling it out. She ran down the stairs as fast as her little legs could take her and fell to her knees before the fireplace.

Not wasting any time, she quickly flipped through the pages of her book. She came to a stop at a page with a picture of a young boy holding a wooden wand, standing in awe before a tall, gleaming entrance leading into a hallway of reflecting lights. Sitting at his sneakers was a book.

The wand in the boy's hand and the book at his feet looked exactly like the ones hidden in the fireplace ashes.

"H-huh? Is this…really…" Patti stared at the yellowed pages of the other book.

"…The Wizard's Companion?"

Still confused, the girl looked at the stick next to her knees. She moved it in her hands, observing every tiny crevice and crack of it.

"If that's The Wizard's Companion…then is this the wand?"

The child caught sight of the spell on the open page. Gateway, the symbol of a door that would teleport its caster to another world. The first spell the boy in the story cast with his stick wand.

_"I wonder…"_

Patti got onto her feet, clutched her hand around the stick, and pointed the wooden tip in front of her. She drew the shape of a gate in the air and finished it with a downward motion.

"Gateway!"

…Nothing. For a moment the world froze while she held her breath. A soft shade of disappointment flowed over her eyes.

Then a flicker. Then a spark. And then a few more dancing sparkles of magic. The wand quivered in her hand as a glowing symbol of the spell floated in front of her. A magical wind swirled around her dotted with enchanting glitters of power.

"W-whoa!" Patti gasped while her bangs fluttered in front of her eyes. A circle appeared around her feet that grew into a column of bright blue light, embracing the girl.

_"Did…did that really work? Wait, I have to stop it before-"_

"Aah!" She shielded her face with her arms, still tightly holding the wand in her right hand. A split second later, the light vanished into thin air, along with the girl and her two books. All that was left were a few forgotten crayons scattered about the floor and a half-finished butterfly picture on a paper.

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><p><strong>An: Patti and Daisy are OC's. Everyone else mentioned in this chapter do not belong to me.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: The Forest of Fairytales

**Ch 2: The Forest of Fairytales**

"Aaaahh-ow!"

Patti tumbled out of the glowing column of light, hitting the mossy ground. She carefully sat up and stared at her surroundings. The girl was no longer in her living room, but a clearing in a forest. Tall trees towered around her as their thick green leaves blocked out most of the sunshine. A few dots of light spotted the earthy ground below her boots. Sturdy bushes with pointy branches and rocks iced over in moss sat next to the oversized roots of the trees.

"Where am I?" Patti whimpered, shivering with shock. Her light brown hair fluttered behind her head as a silent breeze brushed past her. The chirps and cries of unknown wildlife resonated through the atmosphere. This place was a haven for Mother Nature to thrive without the touch of man, but did that make it safe to stay in? Were there hungry meat eating creatures roaming around? Or worse? These feelings contaminated Patti's mind while she stared uncertainly around her.

She then saw the stick still in her hand.

"Oh! The spell!"

Hastily whipping her head around, she caught sight of The Wizard's Companion flat on the earth, open to the same page. She sprang to her feet and picked up the book, glaring at the rune on the paper. Holding the book in the crook of her thin arm and raising the wand with her free hand, she began to cast the spell on the left page.

Patti waved the wand in the shape of an arrow and a downward strike.

"…Wait, that isn't right-!"

Her realization came too late; the spell was already in action. Instead of summoning a gateway of light, a swirling blue light grew out of her chest, where her heart was. It grew brighter and blossomed into a large sphere of energy midair.

"Wh-what's happening?"

Before she could blink, the orb of light merged and shifted inside, into a shadow that gradually became a floating, fantasy creature. It was a purple duck-like animal with a beak in the shape of a trumpet bell and a tail that gave the body the resemblance of a musical note. A single feather stuck out from the top of its head, a cute antennae from the plume.

Once the creature was solidified, the orb floated to the ground, setting the bird down with it. It landed on its fat feet facing the girl. As the light faded away, the animal opened its round indigo eyes and gazed at Patti.

The child blinked, her fear replaced by curious surprise. She tucked her light blue dress under her bottom, crouched on her knees, and bent forward. For a minute they were both as silent and still as a pair of statues, not sure what to say or do.

"…HOOOONK!"

The creature blew its horn in Patti's face, sending her bangs and hair flying behind her for a brief moment. It then innocently blinked with wonder while she stared.

"…pfft! Haha!" She giggled. "That was so cute! Can you do it again?"

Nodding its head, the bird honked a couple of times as if trying to play a song. Patti's laugh echoed cheerfully through the air with the notes.

"Haha, that's great!" She clapped her hands with joy. The animal then hopped into her lap and snuggled close to her heart, letting out a low note, like a purr.

"Aw…you're so fluffy." The girl gently stoked the bird's feathers. "Such a fluffy girl…"

Suddenly the animal let out a frustrated honk, like the loud growl produced from a saxophone.

"…O-Oh! Are you a boy?"

The bird nodded with little peeps from his beak. He gently leaped back onto the ground and wagged his tail. Patti's gaze suddenly found The Wizard's Companion lying in the grass next to his feet.

She walked to the book and plucked it off of the ground as her blue eyes began to skim the pages.

On the left page was the symbol she accidentally drew in her haste with the words _Form Familiar_ written at the top.

"Oh! So…" she turned back to her animal companion, "you're my familiar?"

"Ho-honk?" He tilted his round head to the side in confusion.

"A warrior of my heart," The girl went on. "Just like in Dad's stories…"

The bird blew his horn and nodded at the 'warrior' part.

She gazed at the page to the right. This page contained the Gateway spell she had used moments before. Patti scanned the grass below, discovering the magical stick next to her boot. The girl picked up the wand and took a deep breath.

"Gateway!"

The wand's tip gleamed a light blue and illuminated a line in the air as her hand moved. Just before she could finish drawing the arc of the rune, however, the stick gave a loud crack. It began to quiver in her fingers and the magic faded away. With one final snap, the wand broke into two halves.

That snap resonated through the air, seeming to suck away all other sounds from the air until the girl was left in shock, staring at the half in her hand and the half on the ground. There was merely dead silence while she held her breath.

"…N-no…no, this can't be right!" In a panicky manner, she redrew the rune in the air with the broken stick again, then twice, and then thrice. Nothing, not even the slightest spark of magic. The girl, desperate, clumsily snatched the other part of the wand and frantically jabbed the two broken ends together.

"No…no, no, no!" She cried as her attempts continued to fail. "No! I have to go back home! Please, please, please work!" Patti tried to mend the stick a few more times before her shoulders started to shake.

She choked on the lump in her throat while hot tears trickled down her face and dribbled off her chin. Hiccupping with grief, she sobbed into her hands.

"N-no! No! I-I have to get home! I have t-to go back to Mom and D-Dad and Uncle Phil and-and-"The girl broke into uncontrollable tears, unable to go on with her lament. The forest air was filled with the cries of her sadness.

Until the sound of a playing horn reached her ears. With a damp face and hands, Patti looked up from her tears.

The familiar from her heart blew his horn up and down in pitch, playing a beautiful melody. The girl stared and listened, slowly recognizing the song he played.

"…O-Over hills green as the springtime… Chasing a lonely cloud, white as snow…" She began to whisper, "Someday soon, I mean to catch it, hold tight, and up into the sky I'll go."

The animal's horn hummed while the girl's whisper grew into a bright song.

"_I think of what you told me.__  
><em>_However sad life seems__  
><em>_That sometimes tears__  
><em>_Can turn to dreams.__If I could only be with you once more,__  
><em>_And hold you tightly to my heart__  
><em>_We could walk this road together,__  
><em>_And never, ever be apart.__  
><em>_Each and every heart will be healed,__  
><em>_On our journey through another world."_

The familiar let the last note fade gracefully in the air and looked at the girl, who was no longer shedding tears. Patti wiped her hand over her cheeks while sniffling.

"Wh-where did you learn that song?" She asked.

He replied by hopping into her lap and nuzzling next to her heart, as if that was his answer.

"…My dad would sing that to me sometimes…" Patti went on. "It was a lullaby his mom taught him, and he mentioned it in his stories…The Song of the Clarion." She then hugged the bird tightly. "That song always cheers me up…thank you."

"Ho-oonk!"

Patti stood back up and picked up The Wizard's Companion and the two broken halves of the wand.

"Right…I have to find some way to go home…" Her voice was now composed and ready to brave the path ahead of her. However, the gleam in her eyes switched to one of uncertainty. "Um…but where am I?"

She restudied her surroundings; towering trees, dense shrubbery, and an abundance of nature. The girl ran through her array of memories and knowledge, trying to piece together her location.

Suddenly the familiar tooted his horn, tearing her away from her thoughts. He curiously pecked his bill at a red book half hidden in the grass. The child bent over and gingerly picked up the book and ran her fingers over the hard cover.

Beneath her fingertips the golden letters shined up at her.

"_The Another World, By Alex Clearheart."_

She flipped through the pages until the heading of chapter three put a halt to her page searching.

"_The Deep Dark Wood"_

Immediately memories of bedtime stories entered her mind, describing a thick forest with wild monsters…and an enchanted tree that had more wisdom than any library in human existence.

"_If this really is the world of Dad's story…then maybe this is The Deep Dark Wood…"_ She gasped. "…_and then Old Father Oak should be around here somewhere!"_

She closed the book and tucked the storybook with The Wizard's Companion under her arm. Once her hand was free she clasped it around the broken wand.

"_I don't know if I'm even in that world, but…I have to try and be strong to find help. To get back home to Mom and Dad and everyone in Motorville…I have to be brave!"_

"Honk! Honk!"

"…Oh!" Patti turned to the familiar. "Do you want to come with me?" She paused, "And…be my familiar?"

He cheerfully blew his beak in a 'yes'.

"Okay! You're going to need a name…" Her mind wandered back to the tune he played a moment ago.

"…How about Tunes?"

"Ho-onk! Honk, hon-honk!" He leaped with joy at this name as if it was music to his ears. The bird hopped eagerly to his young master's side.

Patti giggled. "Haha! Okay, let's go find Old Father Oak!"

Just as she took a few steps, she tripped over a tree root sticking up from the ground.

"Oof! Ow…" The girl scratched her head, feeling a few stray leaves and twigs in it. Patti brushed her fingers through her light brown hair. Once her hair was free of nature's debris, she placed the books and wand down, reached into one of her dress pockets, and pulled out a pair of elastic hair ties. Her small hands pulled her hair back into low pigtails.

"There." Patti picked back up her belongings and turned to Tunes. "That should be better. Ready to go?"

"Honk-honk!"

"Okay…" Looking back at the dense forest before her, she gulped back her fear and anxiety and cautiously proceeded through the plant infected path.

"_I…I can do this…I just have to be brave…and believe in myself…"_

* * *

><p>Back in Motorville, a pair of ladies carrying a couple of paper bags walked down the street. The brunette chatted away while the blonde listened to her stories.<p>

"…You should have seen the look on Denny's face, Myrtle. It was priceless!" Daisy giggled. "After that he gave up on fixing the sink himself and called the plumber."

The other lady nodded quietly, smiling. The duo strolled up to the door of the house. Myrtle turned her key in the lock and opened the door to her home.

"Patti! We're home!" She said as she entered the house.

Her reply was nothing. Lying on the floor in front of the fireplace were a handful of carelessly scattered crayons and a drawing.

"Oh, this picture is lovely!" Daisy picked up the picture to her face, but then looked around. "But where's the little artist?"

"Patti! Patti, I'm home!" Myrtle hollered. Her only answer was still silence.

"That's strange…"

"Myrtle, where's Patti?"

"I don't know. It's not like her to not reply when we come back…" Her blue eyes scanned over the scattered crayons. "…And neither is leaving a mess like this…"

"Patti?" Daisy called out. "Patti, where are you? It's Mrs. Daisy and your mom!"

"Patti! Patti!" The mother's face fell into worry. She ran up the stairs while she asked, "Daisy, can you check the kitchen and backyard, please?"

"Of course!" Her friend vanished in the direction of the back of the house while Myrtle continued upstairs.

"Patti! Patti! Patti, where are you?" She opened the door to her daughter's bedroom, finding it to be empty. The master bedroom, upstairs bathroom, and the office were in this sorry state as well, without any trace or clue of Patti.

"Patti! PATTI!" The woman was now in a frantic mess, her voice growing hoarse from her shouting.

"Daisy! Is Patti down there!?" She yelled over the stair railing to the brunette who had returned.

"No…Is she not up there?"

"No, she isn't up here…" The blonde came down with shaky legs. Her hand clutched onto the railing as if her life depended on it.

"Myrtle, calm down." Daisy placed her hands on Myrtle's shoulders. She tried to act calm, but her voice still wavered. "Uh-Is there anywhere else Patti could be?"

"N-no…she knows not to leave the house when we're gone…" She whispered shakily. "S-she's never done this before…I don't know where she is!" Suddenly her eyes grew small with fear.

"Y-you don't think she was k…k-kidnapped?"

"I-I don't think so…" Daisy murmured. "The backdoor was locked and I didn't see any windows broken or anything."

"Then…the front door?" Myrtle's head swayed back and forth. "No. Patti knows never to answer the door, and even if she did let a stranger in, it would have been unlocked when we came here."

"B-but then where could she be?"

"I don't know…"

For a moment they were quiet as their worry began to ferment in their skulls. Then Myrtle dashed away to the telephone.

"Daisy, check outside again!" She commanded while turning the dial. "I'm going to call my parents if they've seen her!"

* * *

><p>Tunes sniffed the air with his horn and eyed his surroundings. When the coast was clear, he called to the girl hiding in the bushes.<p>

"I'm coming!" Patti untangled herself from the leafy bush, swatting away a branch that stuck to her dress. Her boots crunched against the thick grass. The familiar looked all around in the clearing he had just discovered. An extremely old tree stood at the edge of it with peculiar lumps on the front of the trunk. Healthy leaves dangled from the sky, blocking out the sun.

"Wow…that's a big tree." The girl stared at the massive plant. "It must be a billion years old!" She opened her red book and gazed at the illustration of a talking tree. Patti held up the book and then lowered it back to see the tree before her. She repeated the action again, comparing the page and the physical plant before her.

"…This tree looks a lot like the one in the book…" Stepping forward, she shyly said, "Uh…Hello? Old Father Oak?"

Tunes, too impatient to wait, gave his beak some loud, blaring honks.

"Honk-HONK! Honk-HONK! Honk-HOOOOONK!"

"Tunes!" Patti waved her hands in front of the bird. "Quiet! We don't want to be rude!"

When the girl looked back behind her, she nearly fell to the ground in surprise.

"_Yawn_…" The unusual lumps on the bark became a moving pair of lips and a nose. A set of eyes blinked open from under the wood and focused on the girl.

"Oh? Did someone call my name?"

"W-w-whoa!" This time Patti did fall back onto her bottom, sitting in the grass while flabbergasted at the tree. "A-are you…Old Father Oak?"

"Yes, my child, that is my name. And you are…?"

"Oh! My name's Patti. And this," she patted Tunes on the head, "is Tunes."

"_Wow…So I really did travel into that world…"_

"I see. Pleased to meet you." Old Father Oak raised a woody eyebrow. "But what is a young girl like yourself doing out here?"

"Um…" The child fumbled with her belongings and held up the broken wand. "My wand broke while I was trying to cast a spell, and I really need it to get back home. Do you know how I can fix it?"

"Hmm…" The elderly tree squinted his eyes. "Oh dear…this is a very old wand…" He suddenly blinked. "Wait, I know this wand…"

"You do?"

"Yes, I've seen it before somewhere…I know I have…"

Just then, something heavy and rock-like jumped from the tree's branches and landed squarely in front of Patti. She gasped; the square shaped rock had a living face, scrunching his bulky eyebrows in concentration.

"Hmm…" It hopped to one side and then the other, inspecting the broken stick. "…Got it! Now I remember!" The stone said in a boastful voice. "I know that wand anywhere."

"Oh! You're The Telling Stone!"

"Hm? You know what I am?" He questioned with curious eyes.

Patti nodded. "Uh-huh. You were a close friend of Old Father Oak and helped Oliver on his adventure to save the world." Her blue eyes grew distant, remembering every detail of the story. "You taught him how to find people with pieces of heart and helped him with your knowledge."

Old Father Oak stared at the girl, puzzled. "My, you seem very well acquainted with the details of the Savior's quest. How did you know that?"

"My dad told me in his story."

"His…story?"

The girl pulled out the red book and held the cover up so His Leafiness could see. His eyelids narrowed over his eyes, reading the letters aloud.

"The Another World…By Alex Clearheart…" The tree mumbled. "Alex…? Alex Clearheart?"

"Actually…my Dad wrote it." Patti explained. "He said that was just a 'pen name'."

"Your Father?!" He exclaimed.

"Yes…" She gingerly ran her fingers over the hard cover. "A long time ago…his mom died in an accident. My grandma. He said he cried for three days straight after that." Her dark eyes grew slightly moist. "He wanted to save her…to bring her back. But that was impossible, so…he decided to write a story about how he saves her. Or almost." She hugged the book closer to her chest. "He put himself in the story and as he continued to write, while he got stronger in the book, he got stronger in real life, too. At the end he decided not to save her…but to keep going in life…and in the story, to save that world." Patti wiped her eyes before continuing. "When I was born, he published the story into a book. This one."

"…I see." His Barkship whispered. "Is your father's name…Oliver?"

Patti nodded, staring at the great tree.

"Does he happen to have red hair and blue eyes?"

She nodded again.

"Why, call me an apple tree's uncle!" He chuckled. The girl tilted her head, confused. The tree shook his leaves. "Oh, that's just a figure of speech. I believe your father is our savior from fifteen years ago!"

"Really?" Her eyes grew wide.

"Yes. Now that I've gotten a good look at you, I see you bear a resemblance to him."

"So all those stories my dad told me…everything in his books…was true?"

"Books?" The Telling Stone jumped to her face. "You mean he wrote more than one?"

"Well, the story was so long it needed three books." Patti rubbed her thumbs on the book. "This is just the first one. And I love them all."

"Ah, I see." The tree smiled. "I didn't know Oliver retold his travels."

"But…why did he…lie?"

"Hm? Beg your pardon?"

Her eyes reflected a strange emotion that neither the wise tree nor the stone could identify. "He always told me that the stories were made up. That everything here was just something he did to feel better about grandma's death." Her grip on the book tightened. "So why didn't he tell me it was real? I've always wanted to visit this world because it sounded so amazing in his books, but I thought it wasn't possible because it was a fairytale. I…I don't understand."

"Patti…" Old Father Oak's eyes grew soft. "I do not think he meant any ill will towards you. Perhaps he wanted to share his tales with everyone, but this is a whole different world; people often have a hard time believing what they don't understand, like magic and talking trees." He chuckled lightly. "So maybe by saying it was fiction made it easier for everyone to swallow and comprehend."

"Oh…" Her face fell to her shoes. "I didn't think of that…"

"It is alright. However…how did you end up here?"

"I was drawing in the living room when I found these in the fireplace." Patti held up The Wizard's Companion and the broken wand. "They looked like the ones in Dad's story, and I tried to cast Gateway." Her eyes suddenly grew sad. "But when I tried to cast it again to go home, it broke."

"Hmm…I see."

"So…do you know how I can fix it?" She held up the sticks with hope sparkling in her eyes.

However, His Tallship nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, my child, but I'm afraid this wand is beyond repair. This wand is a very old model, and those kinds aren't designed to retain their magic for eternity."

"You mean…not all wands break like this one?"

"The art of wandmaking is very complicated, but in a nutshell, more modern wands are made to constantly flow with magic, while older ones have a limit to their power and fade away as time goes on. Of course, by time I mean thousands of years." His dark eyes ran over the two sticks. "I'm afraid this wand's time was up. Once a wand like this one has run out of magic energy, then it becomes unable to cast any more spells."

"Oh…" The girl gazed at the wand with disappointment. Her only key home was nothing more than a broken twig. She was stuck in an unfamiliar world.

"However," Old Father Oak continued, "there is still a way for you to get home."

"Really?" Patti felt hope rushing back into her heart.

"Yes. Have you ever heard of Ding Dong Dell?"

"Yeah! That's the first town my Dad visited! That town with cats on land and rats in the well!"

He nodded. "That kingdom is just south of here. Ever since Shadar had been defeated, magic has been allowed and practiced all over the world. I'm sure you can find a new wand there."

"Of course!" Patti nearly jumped with joy. "That's a great idea!"

The tree smiled. He began to shake his branches lightly, sending some leaves down to her feet.

"You might need some money to buy a wand, so sell some of my leaves. According to what I hear, they often fetch a reasonable price."

"Are you sure, Old Father Oak? I feel bad selling your own leaves for money…" She stared earnestly at the tree. "They're like pieces of your own body."

"Ha ha ha!" He gave a hearty laugh. "Oh, do not fret, Patti, there's plenty more where those came from, and I do not mind at all giving away my leaves to help a friend."

The girl smiled, reassured, and gingerly picked up the leaves. She tried to stuff them under her arm with her books, but they all fell to the ground in a messy heap.

"Why, it looks like you'll need a bag for your travels, too." Old Father Oak shook his branches, letting lose some more leaves. As he continued to jerk his branches, Patti saw her familiar blow stray leaves up in the air with his horn playfully.

"Honk! Honk! Honk!"

The girl giggled until something hit her on the head.

"Ow!"

"Oh dear!" The tree ceased his shaking. "I'm so sorry, Patti, are you alright?"

She held her head in her hand. "I think so…" Her eyes went down to a simple satchel at her boots.

"That is a Bottomless Bag," He explained as she picked it up from the grass. "I'm sure it will accommodate your belongings with ease."

"Like the one my father had?" Patti asked while placing her things into the bag.

"Yes, I believe this bag is quite similar to the one your father had."

The girl hoisted it over her shoulder and looked back to the tree. "Thank you so much, Your Barkship!"

"You're welcome, Patti. However, before you go, I must warn you to be careful; the land between here and the kingdom can be very dangerous with wild monsters. Of course…" His wise gazed turned to Tunes, who stood loyally next to his master. "You have a familiar, so you should be able to protect yourself."

The Shonky-Tonker hopped proudly, tooting his horn. Patti leaned down to give him a pat on the head.

"Do you have any questions before we depart?" The Telling Stone asked, hovering at eye-level.

"I don't think so…wait, 'we'?"

"Why, yes!" He spun in the air with a grin. "I shall escort you to the kingdom. I'm sure my vast ocean of knowledge can assist you in your journey."

"Really? Thank you!"

He jumped to an opening on the edge of the clearing. "We just have to go right and stay along this path to reach the exit of the woods."

"Okay." Patti skipped to the rock with Tunes, turned around, and waved at the old tree. "Good-bye, Old Father Oak!"

"Farewell, Patti! You be careful, now! And tell your father I said hello!"

"I will!"

With that, she, the familiar, and the rock dashed away from his sight. A soft smile tugged at his bark lips.

"Such a well-mannered girl…like father like daughter, I suppose." The elderly tree yawned and closed his eyes, becoming a normal tree as his facial features melted into the rough texture of his wood.

* * *

><p>The sun was setting behind the horizon, painting the sky with bright, warm colors. A simple red pickup truck rolled lazily past a sign with the letters '<em>Welcome to Motorville: Drive Safe!<em>'. Behind the wheel was a man with golden brown hair and mustache while wearing a pair of round glasses. He chatted with the red headed man in the passenger's seat.

"Hey, Ollie, what did one road say to the other?"

Oliver shrugged. "Beat's me, Phil."

"Hi way! Get it? Ha ha!"

The redhead facepalmed his face with an amused grin. "Hah hah, you should tell that one to Patti and see what she thinks."

"By the way, how's she doing? Is she still taking those violin lessons?"

"Yeah. She's getting pretty good. You should hear her play sometime."

The truck cruised into the neighborhood. However, they were alarmed as they saw several citizens wandering around with worried faces.

"What's up?" Phil slowed the vehicle down while rubbernecking at the scene.

"It…looks like they're looking for someone." Oliver stuck his head out the window. He saw an elderly lady with pale red hair that curled around the back of her neck. Her eyes found Oliver's face and she ran towards the truck.

"Oliver! Oliver!"

"Mrs. Leila? What's wrong?" He asked while his friend pushed on the breaks.

"Oh, Oliver, it's awful-we've been looking all over-can't find her-"

"Slow down, Mrs. Leila." Phil called from the driver's seat. "We can hardly understand a word you're saying!"

The woman took a few breaths. "Huff…huff…Oliver, Patti's missing."

Oliver's ear's failed to function for a split second as his heart skipped a beat, leaving him unable to utter a word.

"What?! Patti?" Phil barked. "What do you mean 'missing'?"

"Myrtle and Daisy went out to run some errands earlier and left Patti at home. When they came back, she was gone!"

"You got any idea where she could be?"

"No. Half the town's scrambling all over the place to find her."

"Where's Myrtle?" The redhead commanded frantically.

"She's at your house in case Patti comes back. The poor woman is worried sick."

Oliver jerked his head back into the automobile. "Phil!"

"On it!" The driver gave the gas pedal a hard push as the truck lurched forward.

While the automobile roared away, Oliver moved his head out again and shouted back at Mrs. Leila, "You guys keep looking and let me know if you find her!"

A few minutes later the truck screeched in front of Oliver's house. The redhead jumped out and ran up to the door. As he turned the knob to the home he heard Phil shout, "I'm gonna help look with the others!"

The door slammed open and Oliver dashed through it. When he came to the living room he found his wife sitting in an armchair, shivering sickly. She looked up at the sound of his arrival.

"Myrtle!"

"Oliver!"

He came over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"N-no. Patti's gone and-and-"She clasped her pale hands together, trying to keep herself together.

"When exactly did she disappear?"

"Um…I left with Daisy at about eight this morning…and we were gone for three hours…"

"Okay…she disappeared between eight this morning and eleven." He scratched his head in thought. His eyes then wandered over to the mess of crayons on the floor. There was a yellow one by the fireplace.

Oliver squinted his eyes, focusing on the spilled ashes on the ground next to the fireplace.

Not saying a word but with wide eyes, he bent down to it and dug in the dust with his hands.

"…What?" He finally whispered and shoved out more ash. "Oh no…oh no, no, no…"

"O-Oliver…?" Myrtle stared at her husband as if he had lost his marbles. "What's wrong?"

The man turned to the blonde with a strange seriousness in his face. "Myrtle, have you cleaned the fireplace recently?"

"No, I never have. You've always insisted that you do that." Her tone was curious and confused; what on earth did the fireplace have to do with their missing daughter?

"So you never removed anything from it?"

"N-no…" Okay, this was getting really weird.

His eyes shank down two sizes. Without another word he ran up the flight of stairs, ignoring his wife's voice. Not wasting any time, he flung open the door to Patti's bedroom. He knelt down to her wide shelf of books, scanning his finger over the spines.

His finger froze as it landed on where the first volume of _'The Another World'_ usually sat. Where he had put it the night before. That spot was now an empty slot.

"Oh no…"

"Oliver! Oliver!" Myrtle's shouts echoed through the house. "What's wrong?!"

He ran to the railing and leaned over. "Myrtle, I think I know where Patti went!"

"Y-you do?" Her blue eyes widened. "Where?"

"I'll explain later!" He yelled while dashing down the stairs. "The sooner we get there, the better!"

To the woman's surprise, he ran back to the fireplace and shoved away massive amounts of ash away. Confused, she walked over to him and looked into the dusty area.

"O-Oliver? What on earth-"She ceased her sentence as her husband revealed a secret door on the bottom. He tugged at the handle and pulled out a bag. Feverishly opening the flap, the man dug into the satchel, pulling out a few stray items like a strange horn, a pair of red swim trunks, an old sandwich…

"Aha! Found it!" Oliver triumphly held up a short staff with a turquoise orb at the tip.

"Myrtle, hang on." He suddenly held her close by the waist while waving the wand in the air. Before she could utter a word, a glowing symbol appeared in the air.

"Gateway!"

A bright blue light rushed around them, pulsing with energy. Magical wind brushed past their bodies, and before either of them could blink, they were gone.

* * *

><p>Patti poked a long stick at the campfire as it shone a brilliant orange against the dark night. There was no moon, but billions of stars took its place, glowing like faint, silver lights.<p>

"Wow…" Patti gasped in wonder. "So many stars…"

"Yes, they are very beautiful." The Telling Stone said while he leaned back on a log opposite of the girl, who sat on top of a sleeping bag.

Patti gazed onto the shadowy horizon. Even in the dim light, she could still make out the silhouette of a large castle in the distance. Ding Dong Dell, her destination.

"How much further did you say Ding Dong Dell was again, Mr. Stone?"

"I'd say about an hour and a half by foot." He let out a yawn. "I suggest we get plenty of sleep and leave in the morning."

"Okay." She put the stick down and shuffled her body into the sleeping bag. "In that case, I'm going to sleep."

"Very good. I shall keep watch." The living rock adjusted his posture to be more alert.

"Thank you, Mr. Stone…and good night." The girl raised the cover over her nose and closed her eyes, smiling. Her left hand crept to her heart, where she could feel the presence of her new familiar.

_"I'm really lucky that I have such a great familiar and The Telling Stone with me. I know they can protect me. I know I can count on my friends to get back home. I just hope Mom and Dad are okay…they must be worried sick…"_

"Good night, Mom…Good night, Dad…" She whispered into her blanket.

* * *

><p>From a window in The Cat's Cradle, a campfire could be seen in the distance. It was a mere spot of orange light from the perch with a single sleeping bag around it…or was it two? It was hard to tell in the dim light and by the distance. A small figure with hair at medium length stared out the window while resting on their elbows.<p>

In the shadows behind her was a pair of beds. One had wrinkled blankets where the person had crawled out of the bed. The other had two lumps under the sheets, one snoring loudly and the other beginning to stir.

"Mmph…" The shadow of a woman rose up to a sitting position and looked at the figure at the window. The darkness left the upper half of her body hidden in blackness, leaving her face invisible.

"Penny?"

The head turned, allowing the starlight to shine on her face, revealing a young girl with blue eyes and peanut butter colored hair.

"Mom? You're awake? I thought you could sleep through Dad's snores any day."

"What are you doing up? Can't sleep?"

"I was looking at those campers outside." She pointed out the window. "They must be traveling, just like us." The girl turned back around, pressing her nose and hands against the cool glass. "The world's so cool with all sorts of awesome places!" She paused. "I wish we didn't have to go back home the day after tomorrow…I just want to go out and explore the entire world!"

"Don't worry, Pen. We'll be doing plenty of exploring in the morning." She yawned. "In the meantime, you should go back to sleep."

"Aw! But I don't want to sleep! I want to explore!" The girl suddenly came over to the bed, crawled up, and poked the snoring figure.

"Hey, Dad, can't we go and check out the town _now_?"

"Zzzz…no…"

"Why not? I'm not sleepy."

The shape of a bony hand lazily came up and down in a half awake gesture. "No, but I am…Zzzz…"

The girl pouted for a moment before mumbling, "Fine…"

Just as she was crawling away, the woman's voice stopped her.

"Do you want to sleep with us for the night?"

"Really?" The child turned around. "Okay!" She wiggled in between the adults and slithered under the covers.

"Night, Mom. Night Dad." The girl snuggled under the sheets and closed her eyes.

"Sweet dreams, Penny."

"Zzzz…'night, Pen…Zzzz…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I referenced the song form the game. I do not own the lyrics or the song, they belong to the game. Oh, and it's such a beautiful song. :)<strong>

**Tunes and Penny are OC's. Everyone else belongs to Ni No Kuni.**


	3. Chapter 3:The Faces of Recognition

**Ch3: The Faces of Recognition**

In a rocky cave the cool air remained as motionless as the sleeping blonde who curled up on a dry, flat area of the water infested floor. A redheaded man sat quietly next to her, staring into space. In the puddles before his shoes a dozen blue crabs shuffled about with their business, not paying much mind to their guests.

The woman's eyelids began to twitch and cracked open a fraction. Her blue eyes gradually appeared behind the thin curtain of flesh. She noticed the back of a familiar man next to her.

"O-Oliver!" She nearly jumped up to a sitting position.

Her husband flinched as if her voice had interrupted his deep train of thought. He turned his neck to see her. Under his eyes were faint circles. Barely noticeable, but still there.

"Oh, Myrtle. Good morning."

"Are you okay?"

He let out a tired sigh. "…I think so. I'm still worried about Patti."

She rubbed her eyes while whispering. "Was all that you told me last night…really true?"

Oliver nodded slowly as if his joints were coated over with the syrup of concern. "Yeah…everything I wrote in those stories …is true."

Myrtle's hands held onto each other to keep the nervous fingers from quivering. "I…see." She was quiet for a moment before croaking, "It's…just so hard to believe. I still remember when we first actually met fifteen years ago, when you helped me go outside again, and what you said." The blonde paused for a breath. "But I still can't believe… It's just so…"

Oliver placed his hand gently on top of hers. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth…I didn't tell anybody in Motorville about it. But, I figured if I did…you would think I had lost my marbles." A half hearted smirk of amusement tugged at his lips.

"Oliver…" Myrtle's fingers coiled around his and squeezed. Her blue eyes shone with understanding and sympathy.

"It's okay…what we have to do now is find Patti."

He blinked, remembering, and nodded with a new focus. "Right." The man got to his feet and tugged at her hand. "Let's go!"

"W-wait!" She said while her husband guided her to the light of the entrance. "Do you know where Patti is?"

"No. I'm pretty sure she used Gateway to get to this world, but I don't have much of a clue where in this world she is."

"So…where are we-"

Myrtle stopped speaking as the intense sunlight shot into her eyes. Her free arm covered her face for a moment. A second later, when she lowered her arm, the breath was taken away from her lungs in surprise.

Soft sand stretched out in front of her next to the shore where blue waves lapped calmly against the land. Opposite to the sea was lush green grass growing in the breeze. Further than that was a dense forest and the tip of a white mountain. The whole environment looked like something from a lovely postcard.

"It's…so pretty." Myrtle could only manage to utter these words while Oliver gazed around them.

"When I casted Gateway last night, I wasn't really thinking and just let the magic take me. It looks like…we ended up on Teeheeti Island."

"Te…Teeheeti?"

"It's this archipelago just southeast of the Summerlands. This is where The Fairyground is."

"Um…you mean that little village of fairies in your book?"

"That very one." Oliver began to walk forward with his wife right beside him. "…I'm thinking we should start there and ask the fairies if they've seen Patti. We just have to go along the shore to get to the south of the island. There's a path leading to it over there."

Myrtle's face relaxed a smidge-there was now some hope that someone had seen their daughter and could give them clues to where she was.

They walked under an arch rock formation and along the shore for half an hour, feeling the sand press against their shoes.

"…Oliver? What's that?"

"What's wha-huh?"

Half a dozen yards away and drawn into the sandy soil was an enormous target with a three meter radius.

Oliver approached the circle in the ground and inspected it. "That's weird. I don't remember anything like this when I was here fifteen years ago."

Myrtle kneeled over and rubbed the sand between her fingers. "It looks like someone drew this in recently…but why?"

"Beats me…"

"Oi!" A bombastic voice suddenly boomed out. "Stand back, will you?"

The pair turned on their heels, looking at a short, chubby creature with horns. A wide golden ring hung off one of the horns while its beady eyes stared at the humans.

"Go on, shoo!" It waved his tiny arms for them to back off.

Myrtle immediately went behind Oliver, shocked.

"O-Oliver! Wh-what is that?"

The redhead peeked over his shoulder saying, "He's a fairy."

"What?" Her blue eyes stared at the 'fairy'. "He doesn't really look like one…"

"Yeah, you should see Mr. Drippy. He's just as-"

"'Ey, what ya' yacking about over there?" The fairy jumped cockily at them.

"O-oh! Uh-um-nothing!"

"Hmph, sure." He rolled his barely-there neck in a pompous fashion. "I bet you're talking about-oi! Here they come!"

"Huh? Who?" Oliver asked while the fairy shooed them back further.

"You'll see in half a second!" He jogged in front of the target where a pair of sticks sat in the sand. A long leaf was tied to each one, making a flag. The fairy waved them vigorously in the air above his horns.

"Oi! OOII! Here, muns!"

Out in the distance of the ocean, a small speck became visible. Something was racing towards the shore, leaving white waves behind it. As it approached the shore, a loud shout became more audible.

"…oooooooooOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

It suddenly made a mighty leap in the air, soaring gracefully against the blue sky. While it was in flight, the chubby fairy dropped the flags and dashed to the side.

A split second later something round bounced off the dead center of the target and did a stylish flip before landing on its short legs.

"Oi! Alright, littlies, its youer turn!" The new fairy shouted with his hands around his wide mouth. Above his lips was a long yellow nose with a little red lantern hanging of the end. He wore a turquoise suit that hugged tightly around his round torso.

Before Oliver or Myrtle could even blink, the sky suddenly rained with baby fairies that ran out and jumped from the ocean, just like the bigger fairy had done. Some hit the target, some hit the edge, and others missed the circle in the sand altogether.

"Righto! Five…six…seven…wait, where's Bounce?"

"Over there!" One littlie shouted in a high pitched voice. Every pair of eyes turned back to the horizon, and sure enough, there was one last littlie sprinting to the shore. The little creature jumped in the air and sailed in the air before landing with its head stuck in the sand.

"Mmmph! Mmph!"

"Oi, hang in there, fella." The lantern nosed fairy skipped to the poor littlie and plucked him out like a wiggling carrot that spat out sand.

"Pah! Patoowy!"

"You okay, buntin'?"

"Yeah…just tidy, Mr. Drippy! I still can't hit that flipping target, though…"

The older fairy dropped the littlie onto the ground, patting him on the head. "Hey, at least you hit the beach this time, mun! Last time you flew straight into Mum's face! Haha!"

The littlie giggled with the other fairy, and the other young ones laughed along. Then the big fairy shook his lantern.

"Okay, muns, that was a good run today! Now you buntings get back to The Fairyground, alright?"

"Yes, Mr. Drippy!" They chirped like tiny preschoolers and skipped away.

"Oi, Drippy!" The horned fairy tapped the other on the shoulder.

"Eh? Wha…" As he turned around, his eyes widened as he stared at the two humans standing behind the other fairy.

"You know these people, mun?"

Drippy was silent, his tongue making small twitches inside his mouth. His quietness prompted the redheaded man to shyly wave.

"H-Hi, Mr. Drippy."

"…Ol…Ollie-boy…?" The fairy whispered with disbelief coating his eyes. "Is…Is that really you, buntin'?"

"Yeah…It's your ol' 'crybaby bunting'." Oliver grinned.

Drippy looked as if he would cry at any second, but the Tear Fairy shook his nose and jumped up to Oliver's head.

"Ollie-boy! Oh, Ollie-boy!" The fairy ruffled the man's mop of hair. "It's been an age, mun! Fifteen flipping years!" He leaped down and ran his eyes up and down the Savior. "And look at you! You're all grown up. Looks like you're not that crybaby I knew back then, 'ey?"

Drippy turned to the ring fairy. "It's okay, mun, they're my friends. Do me a favor and check on the litlies and see that they got back home in one piece, alright?"

"Sure thing, mun!" With a cheerful salute, the other fairy skipped away. When Drippy turned back around, he noticed the blonde woman still timidly standing behind Oliver.

"Ey'? Esther? What are you doing back here?"

"Wh-what?" Myrtle raised a hand to her chest. "Esther…?"

"Yea-wait a minute…" Drippy slowly walked in a circle around the woman, observing her closely. When he stepped back in front of her, his fist came down in his other palm as if a light bulb had gone off in his brain.

"Oi, I get it now! You're her soulmate! Yeah, I remember you now!"

"You…remember me?"

"Mm-hmm. Myrtle, wasn't it? Sorry about before-I thought you were someone else." He spun in a circle to face the man. "Anyway, what are you two doing here?"

"Actually…we need your help."

"Oi? Well, you can count on me, Ollie-boy! After all, I'm the Lord High Lord of the Faires! So what do ya' need?"

"Well…our daughter is missing."

* * *

><p>The little bell chimed from above the Cawtermaster's door. A ten year old girl with light brown pigtails walked through slowly as if she was afraid a monster would attack her. Patti closed the door behind her, examining the weapon shop that exhibited dozens of swords, armor, and more.<p>

"Caw! Hello, dear customer!"

She jumped slightly and looked around. Behind a counter was a person with the head and neck of a crow but the body of a man. He wore a noble red jacket with a sword securely on his back. Thick brow gloves covered his hands-or perhaps they were wings, maybe? It was hard to tell…

"Caw, it's okay, I don't bite little girls!" He cawed. "The only things I bite are worms!"

Patti sighed, relieved that the crow was the shopkeeper, not a beast. She walked up to the counter.

"I need a wand, please."

"A wand? Oh, crumbs…" The Cawtermaster scratched at the feathers on his neck.

"What's wrong? I don't need a powerful one, if that helps…"

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm cawfraid I have no more wands."

"Huh? You mean you're sold out?"

The corners of his yellow beak went down sadly. "Lately there's been this monster patrolling the roads where our wand merchants travel, and we haven't been able to restock our magical tools."

"Oh…Do you know when you'll have more wands?"

"Hard to say…I put up a bounty hunt for someone to dispatch of it the day before yesterday but I don't think anyone's taken it yet." He sighed. "Once someone does finish it off, it'd cawbrably take a few days for the shipments to get crowing again."

"Are you sure you don't have any wands?" She asked with a hidden worry in her voice.

"Yes… we are flap-out of magical wands, my lady."

Her blue eyes dropped to her boots as she muttered, "…Okay. Thank you." She turned to leave.

"P-please come again soon!" The Cawtermaster cawed. He tried to sound positive, but the little girl's disappointment left a sting in his soul, unable to put his heart into his usual good bye.

_Jingle jingle…jig-jingle jingle jingle…_

Even the bell sounded disappointed when the child closed the door. She dragged her feet as she walked away from the weapon shop. When she reached a corner out of the sight of the public, she flipped open her bag, and out popped The Telling Stone.

"Mr. Stone, I have a problem."

"No need to explain, Patti. I heard every word."

"Do you have any idea where else they might sell wands?"

His rock eyebrows knit together in frustration. "Hmm…I'm not sure. Hootenanny carries everyday items and provisions, so I doubt we'd find a wand there…Perhaps there is a traveling peddler or a local wizardly shop?"

Patti thought for a moment, staring at the sky. "…I don't really remember seeing anything like that when we came here."

"Hmph. Pebbles…" He grumbled. "Well, let's keep looking and ask around, anyway."

"Okay." The girl opened the bag for the talking rock and he leaped in with ease. Patti hoisted the bottomless bag back over her shoulder and began to make her way down the cobblestone roads of Ding Dong Dell.

The rest of her path that morning was filled with the same kind of answers.

"I'm sorry, sweet heart, but the only place I know where you could buy a wand is The Cawtermaster's."

"Nope, we don't carry wands. If you're not going to buy something, then you should leave."

"A local magic shop? No, never heard of one around here."

After an hour of searching and combing half the kingdom for information, her feet begged for a rest. Patti sat on the edge of the large fountain in the plaza of Ding Dong Dell. A statue of a former gremlin king stood proudly in the center while circling around his pawed feet were three smaller fish spitting out streams of water in the air.

Sighing, the girl slouched over her lap with her face leaning on her palm. Her elbow dug into her knee while her boots hung in the empty space above the ground.

"Maybe I should just take up the bounty hunt for that monster the Cawtermaster was talking about and-"

"Absolutely not!" Yelled a muffled voice from her bag with a jump. Patti swiftly opened the satchel, letting her stony friend leap out.

"You may have a familiar, but going after a monster like that would be too dangerous for someone like you!"

"But I fought a couple of monsters on the way here…I do know how to fight."

"Hmm…" The rock thought this over for a moment. "True…It's just that as your guide it's my duty to keep you from getting hurt out there. I am a mere stone…" His grey eyes suddenly gleamed with uncharacteristic low self-esteem. "I may have an ocean of knowledge surpassing even Old Father Oak's vast wisdom, but that is all I have. I cannot wield a weapon, nor can I attack wild monsters. And I don't think Oliver would be too happy if you didn't come back home in one piece."

"Oh yeah…" Patti's shoulders slumped. Her eyes grew distant as she ran through her brain for any other ideas on where she could obtain a new wand. She had already been gone from home for nearly a day…surely her parents and friends were worried sick by now. Without an enchanted wand, the door leading back to Motorville was shut tight.

Anxious for a solution, she reached into the bag and pulled out her red storybook. Her delicate hands flipped through the pages as her eyes scoured the words.

The Telling Stone floated to her elbow and peeked into the tome as well. "What are you looking for, Patti?"

"I was thinking maybe we could get an idea where I can get a wand in here."

"You said he wrote three books of his adventure, correct? How far does this one go?"

"From the very beginning to…where they get on the Sea Cow with Swaine."

"What do you mean by 'the very beginning'?"

"Well, the hero, or my dad, is just a normal boy in Motorville…Oh!" Her blue eyes shone with an idea. "Do you want me to read you a little? From the beginning?"

"Really?" There was a smile in the rock's voice. "You don't mind?"

"Not at all! I love reading, especially these books. I read these with my dad a lot…" She turned to the first page of the book, where the words '_Chapter one: A Boy in Motorville'_ titled the paper.

"Ready?"

The Telling Stone nodded his body, situating himself comfortably next to the girl. Patti began to read aloud the tale of her father, the Savior of the Another World.

"_The sun began to rise back into the blue sky of America. Its brilliant rays of light shone down on a simple little town by the name of Motorville. Cars gently puttered about in the streets while fair citizens casually walked about on the sidewalk. One person ran excitedly up the street with his blue sneakers thumping against the concrete. A red headed boy of thirteen turned around a corner and nearly crashed into a local man carrying a box of goods._

'_Sorry, mister!' he shouted over his shoulder and continued his run. After a few more strides he reached a store with a 'Leila's Milk Bar' sign standing humbly over a door. Not wasting any time, the boy in overalls entered the store."_

As Patti mouthed out each word on the page, her voice unintentionally carried out the story through the air. The girl's voice grew into something different through the book; the voice that was once somewhat quiet and calm grew into a clear, confident sound out of words. Nearby Ding Dong Dell citizens slowed down their pace to hear Patti's story before walking away.

At one point a little boy slowed to a stop, mesmerized by the tale. He took a few steps closer to her as if he was attracted to her like a magnet. Patti was oblivious to the boy and never stopped reading. The boy sat down on the ground cross-legged and stared up at her in silence. Then a young girl came over and sat next to the boy. Gradually the crowd grew into a good sized crowd of children sitting in front of Patti, mesmerized by the words that flowed from the book and past her lips.

One member of the crowd eyed the storyteller with extreme curiosity. Wearing a cocoa brown newsboy hat and study boots was a young girl with blue eyes. Her hair was tied back into a carefree set of pigtails, hanging low under her hat. On top of her white shirt was a tan vest that went perfectly with her brown plaid skirt. She sat near the front of the crowd with her pale hands in her lap. The girl sat properly enough, but something about the girl's posture and appearance gave off a spunky, tomboyish aura.

However, she remained silent as Patti went on with the story, completely unaware of the crowd she had attracted.

* * *

><p>"Hmmm…So let me get this straight." The Fairy Godmother boomed. "You…The pooer hearted one, got married with this lovely lass and had a bouncing baby girl!"<p>

"No no no, Mam!" Drippy held his head as he shook his lantern. "I've told you a hundred flipping times, he's the PURE hearted one! And the girl's missing!"

"Congratulations, Oliver! I had no idea the savior started a family of his own!"

"Mam! We know that already, but their daughter's missing!" The Lord High Lord of the Fairies stamped his foot impatiently. "Honest to goodness…"

The Fairy Godmother blinked her green eyes innocently with her usual grin. Long black eyelashes and blue eyelids caressed over her eyes, standing out against the pale white body. At the very top of her 'head' was some moss and vegetation surrounding her little volcano.

"So, how long has your little girl been missing?"

"Oh, _now_ she's listening." Drippy rolled his eyes. "You trying to wind us up or something, mum?"

Oliver looked up to the massive mother. "Ever since yesterday. I think she found my old stick wand with the Wizard's Companion and came here."

"Well, if the lass has your stick, then how did you two get here?"

"Oh, I used my other old wand." He held up the short wand in his hand. "I wasn't really thinking when I cast Gateway and came here last night. When we got up to look around, we ran into Mr. Drippy." The redhead shifted his gaze to the fairy next to his feet. "Come to think of it, what were you doing out there?"

"Oh, teaching the littlies how to be a proper tidy fairy!" Drippy's chest puffed out with pride as he spoke. "One of the many tricks we fairies have to learn is how to run and jump on land and water like a-well-a fairy! Those sorts of things take practice, and I was givin' them a few pointers!"

"Jeepers…I didn't know fairies did that…"

"Oh, yes, they do!" The Godmother piped up. "Practice makes perfect, see? I remember when my son here ran over the water the first time…Ooh, that's an interesting story-"

"Not now, mam!" Drippy jumped in irritation. "We can talk about how I soaked myself later-we have a missing daughter on our hands, here!"

"Ooh? Ah, of course!" She blinked. "So, what was her name again…started with a 'W', didn't it? And it rhymed with…'alligator', I think."

Drippy slapped his forehead. "Flipping heck...it's Patti, for Pete's sake!"

"Eh? Her name's Pete? Odd name…"

"Sigh…I give up." He turned to the man. "Ollie-boy, you try, will you?"

"O-okay…" Oliver cleared his throat. "Ma'am, our daughter's name is Patti, and I think she's somewhere in this world."

"What she look like?"

"She's ten years old, has brown hair…oh!" He reached for his back pocket, pulling out a wallet. His fingers wiggled inside of it, searching for something. "I've got a photo of her in here…got it!"

He tugged out a small photograph and handed it to Drippy. Standing with a smile on her face on the paper was a young girl with light brown hair, holding a violin. As the fairy scanned the picture, his eyes suddenly grew wide.

"Blimey!" He stared at it again as if checking that he wasn't seeing things. "I don't believe it!"

"What?!" Mytrle spoke up for the first time. "Have you seen her?"

"Take a look, Mam!" The fairy held the photo to the Fairy Godmother.

"My, what a lovely picture!"

Drippy clenched his teach, fighting against the urge to curse. "Yes, Mam, it's a nice picture. But doesn't this little girl ring a bell?"

"Eh? Since when did Penny do that? I don't recall her ringing any bells when she was here…"

Oliver and Myrtle blinked and looked at each other. "Penny?"

Drippy spun in a half circle. "That's right!" He gently tapped the photo. "I think I know youer daughter's soulmate!"

"Patti's…soulmate?" Myrtle whispered.

"Mm-hmm! Soulmates share souls, see, and tend to look alike. We happen to know this girl named Penny who looks exactly like youer daughter." The fairy was about to go on until he burst out laughing.

"Hohoho-oh, mun, you don't even know what's been going on with the rest of the gang since you've left!"

"You mean Esther and the others?" Oliver scratched his red hair. "Wait-if Esther is still Myrtle's soulmate…" He looked at his wife and back to the photo in the fairy's hand. "Then…no way!"

"Ah, putting two and two together, en't you?" Drippy's grin grew wider.

"Esther…had a kid? And that kid is…Patti's soulmate?"

The fairy nodded his lantern up and down. "Yep, had a little lass named Penny. And they were here just a few days ago!"

"So does that give us any clues about Patti?" Myrtle clasped her hands together in hope. Drippy crossed his arms over his chest in thought.

"Hmm…well, soulmates are closely connected, so it's possible, yeah. Maybe Penny's having weird dreams about Patti or something that could give us a lead!"

"Really? So we just have to find Penny and talk to her?"

"Do you know where Penny is now?" Oliver asked with a tone similar to his wife's.

"Well, Penny and her family are traveling right now. They're on a little family vacation!" The Fairy Godmother chirped. "And I believe they were heading to…oh…oh, what was the name of that town again…?"

"Al Mamoon's a kingdom, Mam, not a town!" Drippy jumped in irritation before facing the couple behind him. "They were gonna pay ol' Rashaad a visit next. He's a happy ol' grandpa now!"

"Neato!" Oliver gazed up to the Godmother and his fairy friend. "Thank you for everything, Ma'am. And thank you, Mr. Drippy."

"Hold on a minute, mun!" Drippy raised his hand like a stop sign. "You sound like you're about to say good-bye, but there's no way I'm gonna let you have all the fun!"

"Huh? You mean-"

"I'm gonna join you in your little adventure! Just like old times!" He jumped onto the man's head, ruffling his hair. "So let's get going! To Al Mamoon!"

"A-Alright, Mr. Drippy!" Oliver pulled out his wand. Myrtle stepped closer to him while waving to the Godmother.

"Thank you so much, Ma'am, and good-bye!"

"Oh, it was nothing, love! And don't worry youer pretty head off, because I'll have every single one of my fairies keep a sharp lookout for youer little girl."

As the Fairy Godmother gave her a wink, the redhead thrust his magic wand in the air and drew a glowing rune in front of them. A vibrant blue column of light shot up from around their feet.

"Travel!"

After a fleeting flash of magic, the couple and the fairy were gone. Empty air was all that stood in their place before the Fairy Godmother.

* * *

><p>"<em>Flocks of wild blue birds suddenly flew from their trees. Oliver and Drippy gazed around them, seeing blurs of feathers. When they had all flown away, the duo stared at the horizon before them. Charging towards them was a massive, mighty stampede of huge animals unfamiliar to the boy. Their muscular bodies were bigger than a car, and their yard long horns branched out sharply from their head.<em>

'_Wh-what do we do?' The boy's voice wavered, feeling the vibrations of the animal's hooves pounding against the earth. _

'_Run for i—Aaaaaaahh!' Drippy jumped before fear overtook his small body and ducked to the ground. _

_The gang of elk was approaching fast. At the last second, Oliver's body remembered to function and dove towards the earth while covering his head with his hands. Stamping hooves beat against the ground, sounding like an earthquake. Dozens if not hundreds of wild beasts galloped past the pair without rest, sending dust up in the air._

_And just as soon as it had started, the last of the animals had dashed away. The fairy cracked his eyes open, and seeing the coast was clear, hopped back to his tidy feet. 'Right, let's get going shall we?' He frisked ahead just as the boy had regained his bearings._

'_Huh?! Hey, wait for me!' Oliver crawled to his feet and ran after his friend._

_Drippy skipped to the edge of a cliff. The boy caught up to the little fairy and panted for his breath. A gust of wind danced past them, running its fingers through Oliver's red hair and jiggling Drippy's tiny lantern._

'_So this is…your wor-'"_

"Ah…ah…ah-CHOO!"

Patti's nose interrupted her story with a ticklish sneeze. With a sniffle, she wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Gesundheit!"

"Thank yo-huh?" The girl blinked with surprise at the unrecognizable voice. She looked up from the book.

Patti was welcomed by the sight of a crowd of people-mostly young children-sitting on the cobblestone ground before her with expectation glazing their wide eyes. Their voices rang out, thirsty to hear what the rest of the book said.

"So what happened next?"

"Yeah, what does he say?"

"Please, read more! Pretty please?"

The brunette's face burst into a vibrant shade of pink. She raised the red book to her face just below her eyes, hiding her blush from her audience. Her voice tried to come out, but got tangled up in her throat.

"Looks like you've gotten quite a fan club, Patti!" The Telling Stone chuckled.

That phrase must have done the trick, because the girl had untangled her voice box and sputtered out, "Uh-I-Um-I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't know anyone else was listening!"

Eager young eyes gazed innocently at the storyteller. "Can you please go on? I really, really want to hear the rest of the story!"

"Yeah, it's a great story!"

"Please read more! Pleeeaaase?"

Patti, not sure what to do, raised the book higher until her face was completely out of view. Her cheeks almost matched the red cover as embarrassment took over her body.

"_H-how long have those guys been listening? Did everyone in Ding Dong Dell hear me?! I only meant to read to Mr. Stone! Oh, no…this is so embarrassing!"_

Another pair of hands suddenly appeared from behind the book. The fingertips caused the child to blink; they looked…familiar, like she had seen them somewhere before.

"Hey, there's no reason to be shy! We really liked your book!"

Patti blinked again at the voice, but she didn't have a chance to question it, because the stranger had already lowered the book to where they could both see their faces.

Her mind froze as her heart skipped a beat. Utter surprise was the only thing that could describe what she felt at that very moment. She was so flabbergasted that she failed to notice the sound of her rocky friend falling backwards into the water out of shock.

Standing in front of her with a grin was…

Herself.


	4. Chapter 4: The Friends of the Past

**Ch4: The Friends of the Past**

Hot rays of sunlight shot down from the cornflower blue sky. Lanky trees with leaves resembling fans, however, didn't pay any mind to the heat. They simply waved back and forth in the warm breeze that carried stray grains of sand through the air. A green and white checkerboard tile decorated the ground below Oliver and Myrtle's feet with fine grains trapped in the cracks.

"Whoa…It looks like something from _The Arabian Nights_." The blond's eyes grew wide with wonder at this desert town. Local people walked around the streets in special clothing made for the heat of The Shimmering Sands. While merchants barked on about their wares young children ran barefoot past the colorful stalls.

"So where's Rashaad's stall again?" Myrtle turned to her husband who was wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"It's not far from here. Just down this street and around a bend. Whew…I forgot how hot it is here."

"Oi, you can say that again…" Drippy piped up from the man's feet. His pink tongue dangled out, panting like a dog's. "The sooner we get to ol' Rashaad, the sooner we can get out of this heat."

The trio made their way through the desert streets, earning curious glances from the locals. While Oliver walked forward Myrtle fingered with her hair, pondering.

"Oliver…This Rashaad is my soulmate's father, correct?"

"Uh-huh. He runs a big babana stall here."

"…You mean banana?"

"Nah, lass, he means babana!" Drippy skipped by her legs. "I think what you call a 'banana' in youer world is what we like to call a 'babana'. They're proper tasty, and popular 'round here!"

"I see…anyway, if Rashaad is my soulmate's father, then does that mean he…is my dad's soulmate?"

"Oh! Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that sooner." Oliver tugged up the sleeve of his shirt. "He looks pretty much like Mr. Rusty."

"Yeah, but with earrings and a dress! Haha!" The fairy chuckled. "Okay, it's a robe, but still…hoho! Boy, that was a good one…That little lass is a proper clever one."

"Huh? Who?"

"Penny! You're daughter's soulmate! When we asked her what she thought about her grandpa, she told us, 'He's a cool man in a dress an' earrings!' Haha!" The Lord High Lord of the Fairies was holding his stomach in laughter now. "And while we were cracking up, she said 'Least that's what Dad says!'. Ohoho, oh boy, that family would make a great comedy act…"

Oliver halted dead in his tracks. His eyes stretched wide. "Wait…wh-who's the dad? I thought I didn't have a soulmate in this world after the fight with Shadar...so if my soulmate isn't the dad, then who is?"

"Oh, you'll see, Ollie-boy. I think I'll leave that question to ol' Rashaad." Drippy winked playfully. "I'll just tell you this; he's probably the last person you'd expect to be a dad." He skipped ahead of the humans and looked behind. "Come on, get a move on, slow pokes!"

Myrtle and Oliver jogged up the street to their fairy friend and turned around a corner. They found an open air stall with tall piles of ripe babanas standing side by side. In between them sat an older man with dark brown skin and even darker brown hair. Under his chin grew a beard and attached to his ears were golden hoop earrings that matched his shiny bracelets. He wore a simple robe with a purple sash tied around the waist and in his right hand he held a peculiar wooden staff.

The woman gasped softly. "F-father! Oh, I-I mean, that's Rashaad…Right?"

Her husband nodded. "The Great Sage Rashaad."

"Or The Great Babana Man Rashaad!" Drippy chirped, chuckling. "Oh, that Penny…I bet youer little girl keeps your hands full with all kinds of trouble."

"Um, not really." Myrtleraised an eyebrow. "She's actually a very sweet girl…I can hardly remember the last time she got into trouble."

"What?!" Drippy nearly leaped with shock but then thought for a moment. "Then again…you and Esther are a bit different in the personality department, and you both have different husbands…yeah, now that I think about it, it would make sense that Patti and Penny are a bit different!"

"So…who's Penny's dad?"

"What, weren't you listening when I was yackin' with Ollie-boy? I said I'd leave that to ol' Rashaad! So if you wanna know, then let's shake a leg!"

The fairy skipped forward until he slipped on a babana peel that was lying carelessly in the street.

"Whoa!"

He rolled towards the babana merchant just as his previous customer was turning to leave. Drippy crashed into Rashaad's shin with a yelp.

"Ow!"

Drippy shook his lantern to regain his bearings and stared up at the man who he had just run into. The human was holding his aging leg while hissing with pain.

"Oi! Sorry 'bout that, Rashaad! You okay?"

"Yes…I'm fine…" Once the pain had faded away, the merchant let go of his calf. "It's just that these bones of mine aren't as young as they used to be."

"Yeah, sorry, mun. I slipped on a stupid babana peel back there."

The man nodded. "I understand it was an accident. Anyway, what are you doing this far from The Fairygrounds?"

"Well, I brought a few, ah, 'familiar' faces for you to see!" Grinning, he spun around and threw his arms in the direction of Oliver and Myrtle. The couple stepped forward, shyly waving.

Rashaad's dark eyes grew narrow as he stared at the redheaded man. He moved his eyes up and down, as if reading something far away.

"Wait…O…Oliver? Is that you?"

The younger man smiled. "Hi, Mr. Rashaad. It's been a while."

The Sage jumped to his feet. "Why, Oliver! It's been so long…And you've grown so much!" He was about to take a friendly jab at Oliver's height when he froze, noticing the woman standing next to him. Recognition and confusion mixed onto his face as he gazed at the familiar blond.

Before Rashaad could question, Oliver said, "This is my wife, Myrtle. She's…also Esther's soulmate."

"P-pleased to meet you, fa-I-I mean Rashaad." Myrtle's fingers played with her hair nervously while she offered her other hand to the man.

"Ah, I see." Rashaad nodded and gave the woman's hand a good shake. "Pleased to meet you, too." When the hand shake was over, his hand floated up to scratch his beard. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Well…we actually came to see Penny."

"Oh? My granddaughter?" His eyes grew large. "Wait…you don't happen to have a daughter, do you?"

Myrtle nodded, still fidgeting with her long hair. "Her name is Patti. We think Penny is her soulmate."

"So my little granddaughter's soulmate is the Savior's child?" He let out a low chuckle. "Interesting."

"Is Penny and her family still here?" Oliver asked with a hopeful eagerness in his eyes.

However, the sage's expression suddenly fell. "I'm sorry, but they are no longer in Al Mamoon. They left just yesterday."

"What?! Where are they now?" The Savior questioned frantically. Rashaad raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Calm down, Ollie-boy." Drippy patted the wizard on the leg. "That doesn't mean Patti isn't in once piece."

Myrtle grew a bit pale while Oliver hung his head down, trying to calm his troubled heart. Drippy looked at his human companions and suddenly realized the negative effect his words had had. _"Oh, me and my big flipping mouth…"_

"Is everything alright?" Rashaad had genuine worry in his low voice. Oliver slowly raised his head up to make eye contact with the sage.

"Sorry, Mr. Rashaad. Our daughter's missing and…"

"What?! Missing? You mean…in this world?"

"Yes…" Oliver croaked and began to pale as well.

Rashaad shifted gears immediately, comprehending the seriousness of the issue. He gently placed his hands on their shoulders. "You two head towards my home. I'll close up the stall and meet you there in a few minutes. We can discuss this further there."

The couple moved their heads up and down, and he turned around and began to put the piles of babanas away.

"Right, let's get a move on!" Drippy bounced away, waving his hand for the two to follow him. "His house is right next door!"

* * *

><p>Patti gently rubbed a towel she had dug out of her bottomless bag against The Telling Stone's body, soaking up the water.<p>

"There." She lifted the fabric away, revealing his face. "Are you okay, Mr. Stone?"

The rock spat out a few times before speaking. "Yes, I am perfectly fine. Just a little shaken up."

"I didn't know you could drown…"

"Well, I'm not technically alive and breathing air, so no, I cannot drown. However," He paused to withhold a grimace, "going underwater is still very uncomfortable…" His slab body shivered.

"So you're not from the Aquatica genus, huh?"

Patti and the stone turned towards the other voice. The new girl who had startled them just moments before bent over her knees and stared at them with bold interest. She tapped her finger on The Telling Stone's top.

"What kind of familiar are you, anyway? I've never heard of one that looks like a talking slab of rock."

"Excuse me?!" He scowled, jumped in the air, and hovered in front of her young face. "Do I look like an animal to you?"

The mystery girl shrugged, unaffected by the rock. "I dunno. Are you a pet or something, then?"

"I am _not_ a familiar _or_ a pet. I am The Telling Stone, and I am Patti's guide." He scoffed. "And who might _you_ be?"

A playful grin broke out on her face as she placed a hand on her chest. "I'm Penny. Nice to meet you!"

"P-Penny?" Patti whispered.

"Yup; Penny's my name and machines are my game!" She jabbed her thumb confidently into her chest. Her hand then came forward and pointed at the other girl. "So your name's Patti, right?"

"Uh-Y-Yeah. How did you know that?"

Penny stood to her full height, looking down at Patti. "That's what the rock called you, right? Or do you prefer to be called something else?"

"O-oh. No, you can call me that." The shyer girl said as she stuffed the damp towel back into her bag. She hoisted onto her shoulder and stood up. To her discovery, Penny was the exact same height as she was. They shared the same hair, same skin, even the same eyes. Yet there was clearly a difference between the two besides their clothing.

Penny suddenly looked down at her boots and saw the red storybook that Patti was reading from earlier. She gingerly picked it up and handed it to the other girl.

"Here's your book. I really liked it!"

"Thank yo…" Patti gasped midsentence. She swiftly took the book from the other girl and began to madly flip through the pages. Penny, knitting her eyebrows in confusion, walked around to look over her shoulder.

After a minute the girl paused at a certain page. Her blue eyes furiously skimmed over the words. Penny read the letters as well, thirsty to know what the other found so intriguing.

_"'The souls of people in youer world and my world are connected. Which means people from over by here have another version of themselves over by there called a soulmate, see? And people with soulmates can even look like each other.'"_

"Oh yeah! I remember you reading that!" Penny chirped before flinching with realization. "…Wait a minute…" Her blue eyes glanced at Patti's face while she did the same. Their faces were almost exact mirrors of each other.

"Y-you're my soulmate?" They both shouted in unison.

"Wait-doesn't that mean you're from another world?" Penny cocked her head to the side.

"Y-yeah, I…I'm from Motorville." Patti stuffed the book into her satchel.

"You mean that town in the book?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow, cool!" The spunky girl chirped. "Hey, do you know the Savior? Oliver?"

"Um…" Patti twirled her finger around her pigtail nervously; would it be a good idea to tell Penny that the Savior was her own father?

"Come to think of it, how'd you get here, anyway? In this world, I mean." Penny absent mindedly twisted her pigtail as well, but in a more carefree fashion. "You must have used that Gateway spell to get here..."

"Oh, uh…I came here by accident."

"How?" The tomboy wrapped her arms around her head and curiously gazed at Patti.

She took a deep breath and told her tale from being a normal girl in Motorville to her failed efforts at finding a wand. The girl still left out the detail that her father was the famed Savior, but Penny still nodded her head in understanding.

"Do…do you know where I can get a wand?" Patti asked with a thin thread of hope in her voice.

"Hmm…" Penny tapped her chin. She then snapped her fingers. "I know! Come on!" Patti's hand was firmly grasped by the tomboy's and was dragged down the streets of Ding Dong Dell.

"Wait, Penny! Where are we going?"

"The Cawtermaster's! I'm sure they've got a wand you can use!"

"Uh…Mr. Stone and I have already looked there."

"Huh?!" The outgoing child stopped in her tracks. She whipped back around with firm disbelief.

"That was actually the first place we looked. I should have mentioned that earlier…"

"But I thought they sold plenty weapons and wands!"

"Normally they do, but the Cawtermaster said there's been this monster running around and they can't restock on wands."

"Rats…" The girl in brown stubbornly tapped her foot in thought. She crossed her thin arms over her chest. "Why don't we go and take care of that monster ourselves?"

"I don't think my familiar and I are strong enough for the bounty..."

"I said 'we', not you!"

"Huh?"

Before Patti could make another move, a glowing orb of orange light popped out of Penny's heart. Sitting at their feet was a creature resembling a machine. A half-cog sat on its head like a crown and it hovered over the ground on a large metallic gear.

"Meet my Sprog Cog! Say hi, Coggette!"

The machine-like animal nodded her head in a shy hello. She spun on her cog before stopping next to her master's boots.

"What about you? Do you have a familiar?"

"Uh-huh. Come on out, boy!"

At Patti's voice, a blue sphere of magic jumped out and landed on the ground. Tunes, the Shonky-Tonker, honked his horn in greeting. However, Coggette shivered timidly and hid behind Penny.

"Hey, it's okay girl, I'm sure he's friendly." The tomboy knelt down and whispered comfortingly. She looked back to the other girl. "She's a little shy at first, but once she warms up to you, she's really nice!" As Tunes slowly waddled to the Sprog Cog Penny gazed at the feathered friend. "A Shonker-Tonker, huh? Those guys usually like music lovers."

"Really? I didn't think of that…I actually play the violin back home."

"You can play a violin? Neat!" The girl in brown beamed before looking at the two familiars, who were starting to warm up to each other. She held her chin thoughtfully.

"Do you know what kind of monster is messing around with The Cawtermaster's wands?"

"No, the shopkeeper didn't say."

"Hmm…" She gazed at the familiars again. Penny then snapped her fingers with an idea.

"Hey, I know! I'll ask my parents to help!"

"Your parents?"

"Yeah, they both have super powerful familiars, so if we all work together, I bet we could kick that monster's butt in no time! You okay with that?"

"Uh-huh!" Patti replied. "But…will they mind?"

"I don't think they'll mind too much. My mom takes on bounty hunts all the time, and she can usually talk my dad into doing something."

"Well, okay then!"

"Great!" Penny spun on her heels and marched forward. "Now we just have to go find them!"

"Find them…?"

The tomboy stopped. "Yeah…My family and I are visiting here. We don't live in Ding Dong Dell. I was exploring this place and got separated from my parents." She turned around with a sheepish grin on her face. "I was trying to find them again when I found you reading that story, and…the rest is history." Her hand came up to rub the back of her neck. "Now that I think about it, they're probably really worried about me by now."

"Oh. Well, then we should start looking!"

Patti ran up next to her soulmate and they walked side by side down the street.

"I guess since we're both soulmates we can assume my parents look like yours."

"Right!" Patti looked around her, peeling her eyes for anyone resembling her own mom and dad. A thought suddenly struck her in the midst of her searching. "Oh, by the way, earlier you said 'machines' were 'your game'. What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, I just like to tinker with machines. Ever since I was little, I would mess around with machine parts and stuff from my dad's office."

"So your dad's…a mechanic?"

"Yeah! He's one of Hamelin's big mechanical engineers. My dad always builds all these cool gadgets and robots!" Penny's eyes grew bright with excitement.

"Really? So you live in Hamelin?"

"Actually, no. We live in Perdida, this town north of Hamelin."

"Huh? But I thought there's a bunch of mountains in between them."

"True, but we happen to have a very special mode of transportation…" The spunky girl smiled mischievously as she paused. "We have a dragon!"

Patti's eyes grew wide, amazed. "W-wow! You mean a flying dragon?"

"You bet! Whenever he goes there, he gets on our dragon and flies over the mountains and to Hamelin."

"W-what if he falls off?"

"Knowing our dragon, he'd probably dive down and catch him. He's a pretty nice dragon. "Penny paused and giggled before continuing. "That is, until it's his bath time."

"So dragons need baths too…"

"Mm-hmm, but only like once a month or so. Anyway, one time my mom broke her arm and couldn't give our dragon his bath, so it was up to my dad to do it." She nearly broke into laughter, sputtering little spurts of laughter through her mouth. "B-but when he tried to do it, our dragon just sat up in a tree all day and swatted him in the face with his tail! Haha! You should have seen it, it was hilarious! He sure didn't want his bath from my dad!"

The two girls chuckled at this funny story. "But did he ever give your dragon his bath?"

"No, not until my mom came and helped. And even then he still messed around with my dad!" A giggle bubbled out from her throat. "Haha, my dad can be pretty cool, but sometimes these things just happen to him, and he's so funny!" Penny's laughter rang cheerfully through the air like an elated bell.

Until a callused hand abruptly pinched her left ear, opposite to the side Patti was.

"OW! Hey!"

"Mind saying all that in your old man's face?"

The tomboy's eyes widened and looked over the best she could. Patti tilted her neck to see the owner of the gruff voice. A man that appeared to be in his forties stared sternly at Penny. He tugged her away by her ear.

"Owowow, Dad that hurts!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't run off like that! Do you have any idea how worried your mother and I have been?!" He sharply barked at her. "You're in a lot of trouble now, young lady!"

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to! I just got lost and sidetracked!"

The man stopped and let go of her ear. He put his hands on his hips and glared at the tomboy while she rubbed her ear.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I can explain, really." Penny's energetic face melted into a genuinely apologetic one. He sighed and blinked slowly.

"…What am I going to do with you, Pen'? Seriously, you gave us a real scare. We've been tearing through the whole kingdom for you."

While the girl in brown explained what had transpired behind his back, Patti, who stood back a couple of yards, gazed at the man intensely. His hair was dark brown and in a mess of curls. A few whiskers of stubble wrapped under his angular face. Over his lanky body he wore a green trench coat, a bleached orange shirt, and a simple pair of blue trousers.

Patti remembered Penny's words from a few minutes before. _"I guess since we're both soulmates we can assume my parents look like yours."_

If that truly was the case, then why did this man look absolutely nothing like Patti's father? There was clearly no resemblance between her redheaded dad and this thin man. Looks, personalities, even their ages were completely different.

"…and that's when I ran into Patti here!"

Penny's voice brought the other girl out of her train of thought. As her eyes jerked back to reality, the older man's face turned to her. They both got a good look at each other this time, and his jaded eyes became frozen with surprise.

"…what…but…you…her…look…" His gruff voice only came out in spurts as his head whipped from one girl to the other in confusion. A bony hand ran through his hair, trying to make sense of this.

"Yeah, we practically look identical, don't we?" Penny chirped. She suddenly noticed the shock in Patti's expression. "Hm? You okay, Patti? Don't worry, my dad doesn't bite!"

"But…he…" _Doesn't look like my dad…_

"Who are you, exactly?" He asked abruptly. Suspicion glazed over his facial features while he narrowed his eyes.

"I-I'm Patti."

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay…You a friend of Penny?"

"Y-yes."

"She's my soulmate!" Penny broadcasted. "All the way from Motorville!"

"Wh-what?! Motorville?!"

"Uh-huh, the same one the Savior is from!"

The man glanced at his daughter before turning back to Patti. "Wait…Do…do you know…?"

Her grip on her satchel strap tightened, knowing there was no use in dodging around the truth anymore.

"Yes...I know the Savior."

"What?!" Penny shouted. "You never told me that! Is he your friend?"

"Uh…he's…my dad."

Dead silence, like the kind of quiet after a bomb goes off.

"…This isn't some kind of joke, is it?" He asked, dumbstruck.

"No, I'm telling the truth. Oliver the Savior is my dad."

"But…that doesn't make se-wait." Penny muttered to herself. Her fist came down into her open palm. "Oh, I just remembered! The Savior's connection between his other soulmates was cut off after he defeated Shadar, so he wouldn't have a soulmate here." The girl turned to her father and back to Patti. "Then I guess it makes sense that our dad's are different. They're not soulmates!"

Patti's eyes flashed with a memory…the memory of a passage of a book…about how the Dark Djinn severed the bond between the Savior's soul and his own…

"That's right! I remember reading that!"

"You mean that was in the book, too? That book you were reading earlier?"

"Uh-huh! Well, not that particular one. That part of the story didn't come until the third-"

"What book are you talking about?" The older man held curiosity in his voice.

Patti fumbled with her hands inside her bag and pulled out the red storybook. "This one. My dad wrote his adventures here in a story." The girl let the sun reflect the shine from the golden letters on the cover.

"…Are you sure your dad is our Savior?" He didn't seem entirely convinced. "Oliver isn't exactly what you'd call an uncommon name."

"Yes, I'm positive! He has red hair and blue eyes and…"

"He wrote that book, right?" His bony index finger pointed at the mass in her arms. "Mind if I take a look?"

She nodded, and her arms stretched out, handing the book to the man. His fingers carefully flipped through the pages, letting the paper flutter past his skin. He stopped at a page near the end of the book. The man's dark eyes hovered over the words. Meanwhile, his daughter got on her tip toes to earn a look and skim the page as well.

"…Pfft!" Penny looked away while trying to hide her smile behind her hand. A laugh struggled for freedom from her mouth. "Pfft-haha-yep, that sounds like you, Dad-haha!" Her shoulders shook gleefully up and down.

The man gave her a sarcastic glance, not saying anything as his daughter went on.

"Haha-Mom wasn't kidding when she said you've-ow!"

His fingers pinched her right ear, ceasing her laughter. "Okay, I get it, so knock it, will you?" He released her from his grip.

"'K. Sorry." Penny shrugged with a grin. However, he didn't notice her as his hands flipped the page to the very front of the book, where he could see the inside of the cover. A photo of a woman with short brown hair smiled out while holding a young boy with red hair. Beneath it were five simple words; _Dedicated to my mother, Allie_.

The man's brown eyes grew distant, fogging over with memories of the past. To the two girls, however, it merely looked like he had a faraway look on his face.

"Dad? Hey, earth to Dad!" Penny waved her hand in front of him.

"Mister? Are you okay?" Patti dared to take a step closer to him.

A mysterious smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He closed the book and handed it back to the young girl. "Okay, I believe you."

Patti's eyes gleamed with relief as she placed the book back into her bag.

"But what are you doing here? Did Oliver decide to come here for a little family vacation or somethin'?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Um…no, I came here by accident." Patti's eyes fell to her boots. "It's a long story…"

"So where's Oliver? Don't tell me you got lost, too." His wiry hand playfully patted his daughter on the head, pushing the brim of her hat down.

"Hey!" She pushed the hat back up and stared at her father. "He's still in Motorville. Patti's stuck here!"

"W-what? What do you mean 'stuck here'?"

"She came here by accident when she found this old wand and cast Gateway but the wand broke and she can't get back home without a new wand and-"The words flew out in an excited rush past her lips.

"Whoa, there, Pen." His hands waved in front of his chest while his head swayed back and forth. "I can't hear a word you're saying at that rate."

"…She's right." Patti fingered with her pigtail. "I don't have a wand to get back home, and I can't find one here. Everyone back home is probably really worried…"

"Oh…" The man looked to his own daughter, sympathetic, and back to the other brunette.

"You wanna tag along with us?"

"Huh? Really?"

"Sure. Can't exactly sit around while the daughter of our Savior needs a hand." A friendly smirk once again made its way to his lips. "We just have to get little miss runaway back to her mom first."

Penny sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Heh heh, I guess Mom's pretty worried, huh?"

"Crazy worried. She's probably lost her mind by now. The sooner she see's you're safe and sound, the better." The man turned around, raising his hand for the girls to follow him. "Come on, we've got a worried mother to find."

"'Kay, Dad!" Penny frisked ahead of her father while the other girl walked to his side.

"Thank you, mister…um…"

Another trademark smirk appeared on his face. "You can just call me Swaine."

* * *

><p>"I see…" Rashaad gently lowered his cup of milk tea with his head downcast. "So your daughter is missing somewhere in this world, and you believe her soulmate could give you a clue to Patti's whereabouts."<p>

Myrtle nodded, staring at her own cup of untouched tea. Oliver's fingers rubbed against each other in an unsettling manner, also refusing to touch the cup of the hot beverage the sage had served.

"I'm so sorry…"

"You haven't seen Patti around Al Mamoon, have you?" Oliver asked with a faint hope in his voice. "According to Mr. Drippy, she looks just like Penny, but in a blue dress."

"I'm afraid not…" His dark eyes closed. "I hope your daughter is okay…and I hope Penny is okay, too."

"Eh? I'm sure she's fine, mun!" Drippy hopped up to the table. "It's Patti I'm more worried about."

"They're both soulmates," Rashaad replied in a low voice, "and their very lives are connected. If something happens to one…then it would affect the other to some degree."

"Yeah, but we're counting on that connection between our spunky Penny and sweet Patti to find a clue 'bout where Ollie's little girl is!" Drippy's lantern swung in the air with his voice. "So, do ya' know where Penny and the others are now?"

"I believe they're in Ding Dong Dell. At least, that's what Esther told me."

"Esther…my soulmate…" Myrtle whispered to herself. The redhead sitting next to her had a sudden glint in his eyes.

"Oh, by the way, who is Penny's dad? I know Esther is her mother," He glanced at his wife, "but I don't know who the dad is. I mean, I don't have a soulmate here because of the battle with Shadar…right?"

"That is correct. Shadar was your own soulmate in this world, and I can assure you he is not the father. However…" A mysterious smile formed on his lips. "I'm sure you know Penny's father very well."

"I do?" Dumbstruck, Oliver scratched his hair. He ran through his mind for an answer, but all he found was nothing.

"Ohohoho…Oh, yes you do, buntin'!" The Lord High Lord of the Fairies chuckled. "'Course, I was worried if I told you, you wouldn't have believed in me. So…" He grinned at the Great Sage. "I'm gonna give ol' Rashaad the honor!"

"Ah, of course…" Rashaad nodded simply.

Oliver and Myrtle leaned forward slightly, ready to hear what the Sage had to say. However, he instead got up from his seat, walked out of the room, and returned with a thick photo album in his hands.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words." He said while flipping through the pages. "I think I shall let the pictures tell you the identity of Penny's father instead." The man found the page he was seeking and handed the open book to Oliver.

"…J-J-Jeepers!" The book nearly jumped out of the wizard's hands. "This…but…how?"

"What is it, Oliver?" Myrtle leaned over to peek over his shoulder. Stuck into the page was a black and white photograph of a couple in wedding day garb. A woman that bore a strong resemblance to her in a white dress smiled at the camera while in the arms of a man that didn't look a thing like Oliver. In the monochrome picture the man had dark curly hair and a black tux. The woman's arms were tightly around his neck, almost to the point of choking him, but the husband didn't seem to mind. Instead he wore an affectionate smirk while holding her up in his thin arms.

"Do you know him, Oliver?"

"This isn't a joke, right? You're not just pulling my leg?" Oliver stared at the photo, checking if it was an illusion of his memory or not.

Drippy cracked up at his reaction. "Hahaha, nope, that picture is tellin' the truth! Penny's papa is none other than-"

"Swaine?!" The wizard was flabbergasted beyond belief. "B-but, those two bicker like oil and water around the clock!"

"Who?" Myrtle leaned back to her chair, knitting her eyebrows together. "I…I think I've heard that name before somewhere…"

"Remember those books I wrote? '_The Another World'_?"

"Mm-hm…wait, you…you don't mean that scruffy thief in the story, do you?"

"The very one."

"Yep, the 'scruffy thief'!" Drippy chuckled. "He and Esther hooked up ten years ago and a couple of months after that, little Penny came along!"

"Jeepers…you weren't kidding when you said he'd be the last person I'd expect to be a dad."

"Yes, you would think so," Rashaad said, "but from what I saw yesterday and what I hear, they seem to be a happy family." A soft smile sneaked up to his lips, the natural response from a kind memory.

"You know what this means, don't you, buntin'?" The fairy's eyes gleamed mischievously at Oliver.

"Um…besides that Swaine and Esther are married?"

"It means Marcassin's an uncle! HahaHA!" Drippy slapped his knee as a hearty laugh erupted from his mouth. "Hahaha…oh, that's good…"

Rashaad abruptly cleared his throat. "Yes, joking aside, Swaine and Esther are indeed Penny's parents. They're traveling to some of the places you all visited from your journey fifteen years ago. I believe they'll be in Ding Dong Dell until tomorrow. After that, they'll return to Perdida."

"So if we don't find them in Ding Dong Dell, then we should try Perdida?" Oliver asked, closing the photo album.

"That is correct."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Drippy jumped down to the floor. "Let's get going, Ollie-boy! We've got some old friends to find!"

"Right." The man got up from his chair as the blonde did the same. He shifted his blue eyes to the sage. "Thank you for everything, Rashaad."

"Of course, Oliver. I'll keep a lookout for your daughter here as well. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I'll do everything in my power to help find Patti."

"Okay." Oliver pulled out his wand, pulled his wife close, and let Drippy hop onto his shoulder. The wizard waved the stick in the symbol they knew so well. Once again, a blue light grew around their feet and carefully rose around them.

"Good-bye, Rashaad!" The trio waved through the glowing light.

"Farewell, everyone!" He also waved back. A moment later, the blue radiance vanished. A few sparkles of shiny blue dulled as they flickered to the ground.

The Great Sage rose from his wooden chair. He paused when his eyes found the album still on the table, as lifeless as a rock. His thick fingers drifted down and gently opened it. By blind chance, he turned to a photograph containing a young baby. It was Penny from a few months old, and her bright eyes stared out from the picture. Rashaad's large hand traced the fingertips over the paper, caressing the child in black and white.

_"They're both soulmates, and their very lives are connected. If something happens to one…then it would affect the other to some degree."_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: There's a Eswaine fan squealing out there somewhere. I just know it. XD Don't worry, we don't mind!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5: The Taste of Irony

**Ch5: The Taste of Irony**

Penny sprinted up a short wall and brought a hand over her eyes as she scanned the people before her. Her pigtails bounced from one side to the other as she jerked her head left and right.

"Dad, I don't see Mom anywhere!"

"Calm down, Pen. We'll find her sooner or later." Swaine ran a wiry hand through his curly hair. "I swear, you've got more energy than a ruffian on a sugar high."

The tomboy shrugged and jumped down to the ground, jogging up ahead. Meanwhile, Patti quietly walked next to the lanky man, flipping through pages of her red storybook. When she thought he wasn't looking, she would turn her gaze to him, running her blue eyes up and down his figure, before looking back at the page.

"You sure you're Pen's soulmate?" He suddenly questioned. The girl jumped slightly and made eye contact with him.

"I-I think so. I mean, we look exactly alike!"

"Yeah. If I didn't know better I'd think you two were twins."

The shy girl poked her nose back into her book, still glaring at the text.

"…You comparing me to the 'me' in the book or somethin'?"

"O-oh! Uh, no, I mean…" She quickly closed the book and hunched her small shoulders. "You can really tell…?"

"I'm smarter than I look." A smirk pinched at the corner of his mouth. "Were you expecting me to me uglier in person or something?"

"Aw, c'mon, Dad," Penny slowed her pace and began to walk on the edge of a stone fence like a tightrope. "You're not _that_ ugly. Of course, Mom's still a lot prettier than you. Haha!"

As Swaine rolled his sarcastic eyes, Patti pierced her blue eyes at the man again. The book had always portrayed him as a scruffy thief in well-used clothes. She noticed that although his hair curled messily on his head, it didn't appear to be particularly dirty. The man's clothes almost matched the description in the book-green trench coat, orange shirt, blue pants-but they weren't tattered at the edges. They definitely weren't brand new, but were in fairly good condition. It was as if the age of the clothes had gone back in a time machine and regained their former glory. Or maybe the man had begun to take better care of himself.

"Hey, what is Oliver like?" Penny's voice caught Patti's attention and broke her from her thoughts. "How's he doing? Does he still do magic?"

"I don't think he does magic anymore. At least not in front of me."

"Oh…so what does he do then? Like what's his job?"

"He works on cars. Building them, designing them…"

"What's a car?"

"Huh?" The girl in blue blinked. "Oh yeah, there aren't any cars in this world." She paused for a moment, pondering how to explain a car. "Um…it's like a big metal box on four wheels that runs on an engine."

"You mean it's a machine?" The girl in brown abruptly leaped from her wall, landed squarely in front of the girl, and beamed at her. "How does it work? What does it do? How do you make it?" She leaned forward, eager with excitement.

"U-uh, well, it's kinda hard to explain…" Patti stuttered, not sure how to respond to such fast questions.

"Chill, Penny, no need to scare our friend." Swaine patted his daughter on the shoulder, continued to walk forward, and spoke over his shoulder. "A word of advice, Patti; anything that has to do with 'machines' is a trigger word for your soulmate, so if you don't want to get bombarded with her excitement, then I'd-WH-WHOA!"

The man wasn't watching his step, and fell clumsily down a stone flight of stairs. He shouted short yelps of pain with each bump until he reached the foot of the stairway.

"Dad!"

"Oh no, Swaine!"

Patti and Penny ran to where they could see the thin man holding his sore head while cursing under his breath.

"Oww…dammit…" He gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to use even worse language.

"Dad, are you okay?!" The tomboy yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Yeah…fine…" He hissed. Slowly sitting up, he felt his bones ache, sore with bruises. "Ow…"

Swaine suddenly noticed a pale hand outstretched towards him. He raised his head to see the owner of the hand.

"Need a hand?" A woman with long blond hair offered. The man took her hand and was pulled back up.

"Oof…thanks."

"What are you doing anyway? We don't have time to be messing around!"

"Calm down, blondie, I just wasn't watching where I was going."

The soulmate girls, meanwhile, stood at the top of the stairs, observing the couple discuss. Patti gazed at the woman with interest. Her golden hair reached the middle of her back and was tied with a thick band at the end. She wore a purple shirt that stopped at the bottom of her waist. Short lilac sleeves showed off thin arms with golden bracelets at the wrists. Hanging from her hips was a long skirt that had high slits on both sides, revealing her long legs. Her feet were encased in simple flats in a similar shade of pink as the sash tied around her waist.

The woman bore a strong resemblance to her own mother…

"…Mom?" She whispered, barely audible.

"Hey, Mom!" Penny yelled, making the other girl jump.

The blonde whipped her head up. Her sapphire eyes widened at the tomboy's call.

"P-Penny!"

The girl skipped down the stairs swiftly and into the woman's arms. "Hiya, Mom!"

"Oh, Penny, thank goodness you're safe!" She buried her face into Penny's head, nearly nuzzling off her hat. "Where on earth were you?! We were so worried!"

"Sorry, just got separated from Dad…" A sheepish smile mustered itself onto Penny's face.

Before the brunette could utter another word, the mother jerked up towards the father with sharp daggers in her eyes. "_Swaine_!"

"What-OW!" He didn't get a chance to finish; the blonde pinched him on his left ear and dragged him away.

"Swaine, how many times do I have to tell you? You have to keep an eye on her!"

"Ow, hey, that hurts! And it was an accident!"

"She could have been kidnapped or hurt or who knows what else?! She's only ten years old!"

"I know, I know-ow, you don't have to pull so hard!"

"When I tell you to keep an eye on her, I mean to keep Penny out of trouble!"

"Hey! Calm down, Esther! Yelling in my ear isn't gonna do any good!"

_"Esther…?"_ That name echoed within Patti's mind while she still stood at the stairs. She was partially behind a stone wall, out of the view of the woman and her family.

That was the name of the Al Mamoon girl who had closed her heart after Shadar had taken her courage. The feisty blond who had a special way with animals and her harp. The person who shared the same soul as Myrtle from Motorville…her own mother…

Esther, the sassy girl who was constantly arguing with the lanky thief.

"Huh…? But…" Patti's eyebrows knitted together in bewilderment. She didn't have time to ponder it further, however, as an energetic finger poked her on the shoulder.

"Come on, Patti! Why are you hiding over here?" Penny grabbed onto her hand and pulled her away. "Hey, let's try standing next to each other in front of my mom; I bet that'll really send her for a loop!"

"Wait, Penny!" Patti pulled back, stopping the two in their tracks. "That woman is your mom, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"And her first name is Esther, right?"

"Yeah…why?"

The gears in Patti's brain began to clang together noisily, trying to make sense of this. _"Maybe… that Esther is a different Esther from the book? There could be other blondes with that name…"_

"Are you worried about my parents?" Penny raised an eyebrow. Her left hand came up in an aloof manner. "Oh, don't worry about them. They're always bickering about one thing or another."

"Is…Is your mom the same Esther that traveled with Oliver? My dad?"

"Yup." The tomboy chirped as if it wasn't a big deal.

"W-what? But I thought those two couldn't stand each other…"

Penny let out a cheerful laugh. "Haha! Yeah, they may seem that way, but don't worry; the day my parents separate is the day Sasquishes learn to fly." She glanced over her shoulder at her parents before whispering to her soulmate, "Of course, it's fun when they do, because breaking it up is even more fun!"

"Breaking…it up?"

"Just watch this." She winked mischievously. "It's pretty entertaining if you do it right."

Penny carefully walked to the bickering couple. She turned her back to them, picked up a stone that was at her feet, and held it in the air before she said loudly in the air, "I'm gonna eat this oversized slug, okay?"

The two adult's immediately dropped their argument and whipped their heads to their daughter.

"Say WHAT?!"

"Penny, no!"

Snatching the rock from the girl's hand, Esther suddenly blinked, feeling the 'slug'. She lowered it so she could see.

"A rock…?"

"Pfft-hahahaHA!" Once again the tomboy held her belly as it ached with laughter. "I gotcha! I gotcha! Haha!"

Swaine slapped his hand over his eyes with a groan. "Ugh…how many times do we have to tell you not to scare us like that?"

"Haha-sorry, but it's so funny! I bet you guys can't even remember what you were arguing about-haha!"

The couple looked at each other, dumbstruck. It was true; the subject of the bicker had faded into nothing in that split second.

The blonde collapsed suddenly to her knees and hugged the girl.

"M-Mom…?"

"Penny…I was so worried when we lost you…" She murmured. "I'm sorry, but I've had enough of a scare today. I-I'm just glad you're safe…"

The brunette's sapphire eyes softened and embraced the woman back. "I didn't mean to get lost. Dad and I were looking for you and we were in a big crowd and…I got separated from Dad…I'm sorry."

Swaine's hand patted the girl on the back. "Hey, you're safe, and that's all that matters." His own face grew gentle. "Let's just try to stick together for the rest of this little trip, 'kay?"

Penny pulled from her mother and nodded to both of them. A sigh of relief escaped the woman's lungs while the man pushed the girl's hat down. The tomboy shifted the brim up with a grin.

"By the way, while I was trying to find you guys, I made a new friend!" She whipped around and opened her mouth to say something, but paused, noticing that Patti was focused on her book instead of the people in front of her.

Penny stealthily walked up to the other girl and cocked her head. "You really like to read, huh?"

"U-uh-I was just looking something up!" The shyer girl slammed the book as if she was caught doing something wrong.

"Boy, and I thought my cousin was a bookworm…" She adjusted the brim of her cap. "What are you looking up then?"

Patti twisted her pigtail nervously; would admitting she was looking up Penny's mom in her storybook be rude?

"Penny? Is someth…" The woman approached her daughter. When she got closer and got a better look at Patti, she became a frozen statue of bewilderment.

"W-what? You…she…but…"

The high-spirited girl snickered. "See? I told you it'd throw my mom for a loop!" Penny elbowed Patti. After a few more giggles, she took a deep breath and regained her composure. "Right, I promised no more scares for Mom…" The tomboy turned around and held out her arm to the other girl. "Mom, this is Patti! She's my soulmate from Motorville!"

The mother's blue eyes stretched open. An unnamable emotion glazed over her pupils as she gasped. "M-Motorville…?"

"Yeah, and she's the Sav-"

Patti gently but abruptly grabbed her soulmate by the sleeve. "Penny…I don't think it's a good idea to say it so loud…I'm not sure I want everyone to know who I am."

"Oh." The girl's eyes grew calmer. "Do you not want me to tell my mom, then?"

"I trust your Mom, and Swaine already knows," She glanced at the lanky man, "just…not so loud, okay?"

Penny nodded while the blonde behind them eyed the dark haired man standing next to her. "You already know what?"

"Well, Penny's friend here knows Oliver." He mumbled quietly, just loud enough for them to hear.

A hand rose to her mouth. To say she was surprised to hear that familiar name after so long would be an understatement. Her blue eyes shone back to Patti, full of questions. "You…you know Oliver?"

The girl shook her head up and down and whispered. "Yes…he's my dad…"

"Y-your dad?!"

"Yep, my soulmate is the Savior's daughter!" Penny chirped, but not too loudly for passing locals to hear. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Is…is this really true?"

The girl in blue flipped her storybook open and held out the page to Esther. "Yes, and I can prove it! He wrote everything about your adventures in here!"

The woman took the book and glared at the paper. Her pupils floated quickly over the words, taking in the phrases.

"…Aah!" Her delicate hands nearly dropped the book, but regained their hold and held it steadily as she reread the passage. "…H-he didn't include that, did he?!"

"Include what? Let me see!" Penny jumped to her mom's side to earn a glimpse of what she was referring to. She continued to hop, reading a few words in her mind at a time while her pigtails bounced along with her. However, after a couple of jumps, the mother slammed the book shut with a bright shade of pink on her pale cheeks.

"I-I can't believe it! Why did he have to write about that?! Oh why…I don't want the whole world-"

"What the heck are ya' yackin' about, Esther?" Swaine's face scrunched in a confused expression.

"I-I-it's nothing! B-besides, if I tell you, you'd just laugh at me about it!" She babbled while thrusting a finger at her husband.

He shrugged. "Okay then…Hey, Patti, what page did you show her?"

"_Swaine!"_

"What? You didn't say anything about not asking her about it."

"Just…ugh…" She pinched the space between her eyes. "…Before Oliver and I met you we ran into this stupid artist that thought I looked like the Cowlipha."

"Okay…"

"He thought I looked like her! I mean, I do not-I mean I did not look that fat back then!"

"Ah, so that's what it's about, eh?" He suddenly smirked, a teasing glint in his dark eyes. "No, but you did when-"

"Hey!" The blonde had a raging fire in her sapphire eyes. "I know you're going to say 'when I was pregnant with Penny', but that doesn't count! And I told you not to talk about that like that!" She prattled furiously.

Before the couple could start another bicker, the sound of suppressed giggling reached their ears. Watching from the sidelines, Patti and Penny pressed their hands to their mouths, trying to contain their laughter. The tomboy, however, was doing a poorer job than her counterpart and broke into a hearty laugh. Patti turned her face away, hoping to hide her giggle from the adults.

"Pfft-pfft-heehee-pfft-!" Her shoulders betrayed her, shivering up and down in glee. _"No, I shouldn't be laughing, that's rude. But…but…pfft-this is even funnier than reading them bicker in the book!"_

Patti was losing her battle to contain her giggle. "Heehee-I-I can hardly believe th-those two got-pfft!"

"You can't believe we what?" Esther asked.

"I-I can't believe y-you two got-pfft-m-married! I always thought you two hated each other!" She suddenly slapped her hand over her mouth, feeling embarrassed at saying something possibly rude.

"You thought we-we-pfhahaha!" It was the woman's turn to crack up. Through her wide grin she laughed, "Haha, yeah, that's true-ahah-but that's why I m-married him, to keep him out of trouble-haha!"

"Hey!" Swaine barked. "You didn't say that when I proposed!"

The blonde was on her knees now, bent over with a shivering body as she chuckled.

"I-is it true…?" The shy girl asked in a hushed voice. Esther looked up, still smiling, and nodded. She held out her left hand, and glittering on her ring finger was a simple yet elegant diamond ring. The reflective gem in the center shone back the sunlight into her eyes.

"S-Seriously?" Patti glanced at the man, who was scratching the back of his hair, avoiding eye contact with a sheepish smirk on his face. "…He didn't steal it, did he?"

"W-what?!" He ceased his scratching, his face exploding into disbelief. "No, I did not! I got it fair and square!"

Esther's laugh exploded in volume, accompanied by Penny rolling on the cobblestone ground. Patti pressed her lips together, half to restrain her giggle, and half not sure what else to do.

"Ugh…" His hand held his forehead as he slowly nodded back and forth. "Do you guys like giving me a hard time, or what?"

"We sure do, Dad!" Penny got back up to her feet while panting for breath. "Haha…man, all that laughing made me tired…" She planted her palms against her knees as her chest heaved up and down, exhausted.

Esther wiped a tear from her eye and looked up. "Haha…same here…" Her entire body ached from all that laughing-her stomach, throat, and her lips, from the hard grin that forms with a strong laugh. Now sober, her brain properly registered the pain for the first time.

"Hahh…okay, I'm okay now…" She shook her head, clearing her mind, and made eye contact with Patti. "So you're really Oliver's daughter, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

"So where is he?" She stood up, still looking at the girl, who was now fingering her pigtail.

"He's still in Motorville…"

"Huh? But…why are you here, then?"

"I came here by accident. It's a long story…" Patti stared at her feet, eyes glazed with a feeling resembling sadness.

Esther's face melted into seriousness. After thinking for a moment, she gently placed her hand on Patti's shoulder. "…Why don't we go someplace quiet and talk about it?"

"Okay." Patti whispered.

The blonde turned around and waved for the others to follow. "There's a tombstone spot past the fountain in the plaza. It should be nice and quiet there."

The girl nodded and took a few steps forward. Penny frisked ahead with Swaine's sharp gaze on her as the party of four traveled down the street Ding Dong Dell.

…At the exact moment they disappeared under a stone arch and into a new area of the kingdom, a red haired man and a blonde woman emerged from a different entrance. Bouncing along by their side was a round fairy.

"Jeepers…I forgot how big this place is…" Oliver scanned the space before him, inspecting every person.

"How are we going to find Penny with all these people?" Myrtle's voice had an evident hint of worry.

Drippy jumped onto a nearby stone half-wall and looked them in the eye. "Knowin' Penny, she'll probably with her parents, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them. After all, it's a lot flipping easier to spot a family than a little girl in a crowd!"

"Drippy's right." Oliver said, "Finding one girl in a kingdom is like finding a needle in a haystack. But it'll be easier to spot a family of three. We just have to keep our eyes peeled for Swaine and Esther, too."

"Okay. Esther looks like me and Swaine…um, what does he look like again…?" The woman scratched her neck in thought, struggling to recall the description of the thief.

"Oi, not much different from how he used to be." The fairy's lantern tilted to the side. "Tall fella, and still skinny as a rake! Still got a bit of a tan, and hair curlier than a spring. Flip, he even has the same clothes! Well, almost…"

"Almost?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You remember what he wore way back when? Well, before Penny was born, prince-a-ling decided to cast Rejuvenate on Swaine's clothes to make them good as new. Bit of a present, although the ol' crack wasn't too happy with it at first," He chuckled. "Anyway, the clothes he wears on his back most of the time are the very same clothes from fifteen years ago. 'Cept for his coat, though…"

"Why? Did something happen to it?"

"Oi, sure did, mun-hoho! According to what Esther told me, when Penny was little she kinda 'claimed' it."

"Claimed it…?"

"Yeah-haha-apparently one day he left his ol' coat on the floor and the little lass decided to sleep on it! Hoho-and when he tried to take it away, well, she wasn't too happy! So Esther decided to turn it into a nice blankie for Penny! Ah, that was a good story…"

"Really? And Swaine was okay with it?"

"From what the grapevine says, not at first, but then he let little miss familiar tamer do her work and cut up his precious coat. She managed to find a new one for him, looks almost like the original, but the coat he wears today en't the same one from fifteen years ago."

"Huh…really…" The wizard's eyes gleamed with contemplation. "…Myrtle, do you remember that red cloth I gave to you nine years ago to make Patti's blanket?"

"…Yes, it looked like it was part of a costume or something…"

"Yeah…that was a cape I wore when I was on my adventure in this world."

"R-really?"

"Oi, I get it!" Drippy nodded his long nose. "Youer thinking about the connection between soulmates! Between Patti and Penny! Huh, who would have thought that even their blankies would have similar stories behind them…"

"Yeah…" Oliver shook his head. "But we should get back on track. We still have to find Penny and the others so we can find Patti."

"Good point, Ollie-boy," The fairy hopped down to the ground. "Righto, let's get a shuntin', buntin'! This is a flipping big place, and we'd better start looking!"

"Maybe we should split up?" Myrtle suggested. "We could cover more ground that way…"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Myrtle…"

"Why not, Oliver?"

The wizard's voice grew quieter. "Patti's already lost in this world…I don't want to lose you, too."

"Oi, he's right, lass. Youer not familiar with this place, and the last thing we need is for you to get lost in Ding Dong Dell. Then we'd be lookin' for two lasses." The fairy's lantern jiggled in the air as he spoke.

Myrtle nodded slowly, and the two men nodded back. The party of three made their way down the road and under a large stone arch-a different one that Patti and her new friends had taken.

* * *

><p>The sun painted the once blue sky with oranges and pinks, the colors of the end of a day. Lazy clouds that looked like cotton candy floated in the sky, lit up by the post twilight. Back on the ground, dark water coolly drifted around a small island of mossy grass. Sticking out of the earth was a tall headstone with faded writing. Sitting behind the massive slab of stone were four people; a man, a woman, and two near identical girls.<p>

"…after a while, I realized people were listening to me reading, and that's when I ran into Penny." Patti said while glancing at her cross legged soulmate.

"Yup! And before we knew it, we crossed paths with a grumpy man!"

"Ahem," Swaine cleared his throat with a glare in his eyes. His gaze shifted over to the other girl. "Anyway, that's quite a story there."

Patti's hands squeezed onto each other. "Yeah…my parents are probably really worried by now."

"But if you can get your hands on a wand and cast Gateway, then you can go back home, right?"

"Mm-hmm." The brunette replied to the blonde. "I tried The Cawtermaster's, but there's this monster messing with their wand shipments so they can't restock."

"Hah!" Penny jumped up from her spot boldly and stood up. "I say we all team up and kick that monster's butt! Then we can get a brand new wand and-"

"Whoa, there, Pen'." Swaine's bony hand waved at the girl. "I don't think that'll be necessary."

"Huh? Why not, Dad? Mom takes on bounty hunts all the time and Gunther is pretty tough! Not to mention my familiar and Patti-"

"I actually think there's a faster way to get her a wand."

"You mean a faster way to beat up that monster?"

The man pinched the spot between his eyes, sighing. "No, I mean a faster, easier to get our hands on a wand that doesn't involve fighting monsters."

"How?" Patti tilted her head to the side while her soulmate slumped her shoulders slightly with an "Aw, man..."

"Simple. Pen' told you we live in Perdida, right?" He paused, giving the girl a chance to nod. "Well, we happen to live right next door to a powerful wizard. I'm sure she wouldn't mind giving you a hand."

"'She…? Perdida…?" Patti's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean the Great Sage Khulan?"

"Oh, so Oliver mentioned her in his books, too?"

"Uh-huh, in a lot of detail!"

"Oh, really? Did he include what we ate for breakfast, too?" A teasing smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Um…now that I think about it, he wrote that one time you burned some eggs…"

Surprise and embarrassment splashed onto his face while Esther and Penny chuckled.

"Hey, it was an accident!" He spun on his heels and yelled at the giggling duo. "Besides, if I remember correctly, Marcassin incinerated the bacon, so he ruined the breakfast, too!"

"Pfft-cooking's never been your cup of tea, huh, Dad? Haha!"

He huffed with a roll of his eyes, "Anyway, yeah, Khulan lives right next door to us. I'm sure she can get ya' home without a problem."

"So that means we don't get to fight big monsters?" Penny crossed her arms in disappointment. "Rats…"

The man crouched down and placed his hand over her hat. "Look, Pen', I may not know what kind of monster we're dealing with, but I'm not in the mood to watch you and our friend get hurt."

"But I think we'd be fine! We all have cool familiars and Mom has her healing spells and-"

Swaine heaved a tired sigh. "Honestly, Penny, what are we going to do with you?" He stood up to his full height. "Besides, in case you haven't noticed yet, it's getting late. If we go out looking for it now, it'd be dark by the time we found it, if we found it at all."

"But we know where to find it! People usually write where a monster is on bounty hunts, right?"

A frustrated groan came from his throat as he slapped his forehead. "Okay, I give up. Esther, can you try?" He looked at his wife who nodded in reply. She walked to Penny and gazed at her in the eye.

"Penny, it's late, and we should be going back to the inn to rest for tomorrow. We were going to go back home tomorrow anyway, and we need to get Patti back home safely. We can't go risking her life as well as our own when we can help your soulmate in a safer way. I understand you want to go and explore, but your father and I don't want to see you two get hurt by some foreign monster." She paused for a breath. "Do you understand?"

"…Yes, Mom." The spunky girl lowly murmured. Disappointment still remained in her face, but now with a shade of understanding.

"Good!" She chirped and jumped to her feet. Her blue eyes found the colorful sky again, reminding her of the time. "Hmm…we should be heading back to The Cat's Cradle soon."

Swaine let out a long yawn. "Good. I could use a bed right about now." He stretched his lanky arms over his head. As he took a few steps away from the tombstone and off of the island, Penny swiftly pulled Patti's wrist and tugged them away after him with Esther right behind them.

"So what did your dad write about Khulan?" Penny asked her soulmate with a tilt of her head.

"Let's see…he mentioned her nightmare…the void of love…and how Kublai came and helped her with a piece of his heart…"

A sniffle resounded from the back of the group. It was Esther, suddenly frozen in her tracks, tearing up slightly. "Sniff…sniff…"

"Huh? Esther, what's wrong?" Patti stared wide eyed at the blonde.

"S-sorry…it's just that I still remember that…sniff…that was the most beautiful love story I have ever heard! Sniff…I can still remember it…and it was so beautiful at their wedding…" Pretty crystal tears trickled down her cheeks, but where promptly wiped away.

"W-what? Wedding? You mean those guys…" The girl's voice trailed off.

"Yep, those two got hitched." Swaine's finished gruffly. "You should have seen little miss familiar tamer; she was going off like a leaky faucet. Haha!"

"What, I thought it was beautiful! It's perfectly normal for people to cry at weddings!" Esther cried. "At least I didn't snore my head off during the ceremony!"

"Hey, leave that outta this! Besides, I was tired! I told you I had trouble sleeping the night before!"

"Why, did you stay up too late at the bachelor party?"

"I did not! And that happened two whole weeks before their wedding, so who cares?!"

While the couple continued to argue, Penny burst out into her usual laugh and Patti's chuckle bubbled up.

"Hahaha, you're never bored when you've got these guys as your parents!"

"Heehee…it's even funnier in person!"

"Hm? In person?"

"Y-yeah-heehee-in my dad's books those two are always arguing."

"Really? Hey, let me see! Show me!" She jumped in her place excitingly.

"Okay…" Just as Patti reached for her satchel, Esther's voice stopped her.

"Show her what?"

"O-oh, um, she wanted to see-"

"You and Dad bickering in the book! I wanna see how you guys were back then!" Penny chirped.

"Well, it wasn't much different from how we talk to each other today. You're dad was a lot more-"

"Ahem," The man cleared his throat loudly. "Shouldn't we get going? It's gonna get dark soon."

"Coming, Dad!" The tomboy jogged ahead.

"Um, so we're going to The Cat's Cradle, right?" The girl in blue asked the blonde.

"Mm-hmm. We'll get some rest and leave for Perdida tomorrow morning. Once we're there, I'm sure Khulan can help you."

Patti nodded and continued to stroll with the eccentric family of three. After walking for several minutes, they reached a building with a wooden sign in the shape of a cat's head with the painted letters _The Cat's Cradle_ printed on it. The sign swung back and forth quietly in the faint breeze.

While Swaine paid and talked to the receptionist lady-er, grimalkin-Penny whispered to her soulmate, "Hey, I bet I can talk my dad into reading your book for a bedtime story. You wanna do that?"

Patti moved her head vertically, earning a grin from the other girl. At that moment the man's bony hand shoved Penny's hat over her face playfully.

"Come on, you two, time to hit the hay…_yawn…_" His feet dragged themselves up the staircase leading up to the rooms.

"Hey, Dad, why are you sleepy now? You don't usually get sleepy at this hour…"

"'Been a long day…and a long trip."

"Well, come on, sleepyhead." Esther patted him on the back as if that would wake him up. "The sooner we eat some dinner the sooner you can get some beauty rest." She giggled at the end.

"Mm-hmm…" He mumbled in reply. Sleepiness was beginning to pull his eyelids down, but he shook his head, shaking away his weariness. His wiry hand curled around the brass doorknob to their inn room and gave it a twist, opening the door for the others.

"I'd keep an eye on my dad if I were you, Patti," Penny whispered to the other girl.

"Why?"

"One time when he was sleepy, he fell asleep standing up! I dunno how he did it, but he did!"

"S-seriously?"

"Alright, enough you two." Swaine mumbled. "I've had enough torture for one day."

"B-but did that really happen?" Patti stared at the lanky man with confusion.

"…Let's just say I was suffering from a bad case of insomnia back then."

"So you really _did_ fall asleep standing up? Like a horse does?"

"Hey, are you guys going to come it or not?" Esther's voice shot out from deeper in the room. "You can't just stand in the doorway all evening!"

"Oh! S-sorry!" Patti and Penny dashed in while the man closed the door.

A few seconds after the echo of the knob's click, a fresh set of voices came from the receptionist counter below.

"Why hello, and welcome to The Cat's Cradle, the purrfect place for travelers to rest their weary heads! How may we help you two?"

"Oi! Hey, that's three, ma'am!"

"Oh my sardines! My apologies! So how may we help you…uh…two and a half?"

"Two and a HALF?! I'm the Lord High Lord of the Fairies! Do I look like a flipping half to you?"

"Drippy, calm down…Uh, anyway, we need a room please."

"Of course! Do you have a reservation?"

"No."

"Ah, I see. Well, no need to get your furr in a bunch; we have plenty of open rooms suitable for you. Just sign your name here and I'll find a key for you…"

"Alright."

After the sound of scribbling handwritting (and a mumbling fairy), the conversation picked back up.

"Here you go! You're room is up those stairs to room eight. I hope you have the purrfect cat nap tonight and a meowvalous stay!"

"Oi, is it big enough for three?"

"Drippy!"

"Well, it has a queen sized bed, and every room has an armchair…I'm sure it'd make a purrfect bed for the little one."

"Hey, I'm a full grown fairy, not a littlie! You…bah, never mind, we don't have time for this…Sorry, muns."

"I-it's okay, Drippy. Let's just go and get some sleep."

"Sure thing, mun…_yawn_…just like old times, eh, Ollie-boy?"

"Mm-hm." The wooden stairs moaned under the weight of human feet. After a few more creaks, Oliver, Myrtle, and Drippy appeared into view.

The woman dragged her feet, staring at the wooden floor. Her husband slowed his pace and looked back at her.

"Myrtle? Are you okay?"

"…Yes, just a bit tired…"

Oliver moistened his lips, sensing what she really meant-was Patti okay or was she injured somewhere? Would they ever find her again safe and sound? Could this spunky Penny they had heard so much about really give them a clue to their daughter's location? So many unanswered questions contaminated both of their minds, poisoning their hearts with fear and fret.

The wizard noticed the weary eyelids half over the blue orbs of her eyes that refused to close. Minute, stray strands of frizzled blonde hair twisted around her face. He knew his appearance was in a similar state, and knew that sleep would not come easily to them tonight.

"…Oi, don't worry, lass." The fairy at their feet said in an unusually quiet voice. "Everything is gonna turn out all tidy in the end, or I'm not Lord High Lord of the Fairies. So let's go and get some shut eye and keep lookin' tomorrow. That tidy with you?"

The couple silently nodded their heads. Drippy's lantern bobbed in reply. The trio took a few more steps and stopped in front of a door with a small number eight painted on the surface. Sticking the smooth key into the keyhole and turning the knob, the redhead unlocked the door and the trio vanished into the room, closing the door behind them with a click.

…in a similar manner that the door to the left, Room 9, had done when a man, woman, and two girls had entered their room just moments before.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I've been waiting to write this chapter...let the married-couple-bickering begin! XD But for some reason this one took a long time to type, even though I had a lot of extra time. Curse you, writter's block! ...Anyway, on to the next chapter!<strong>

**Oh, and here's a little pop quiz for all you NNK fanatics!**

**-How many total Cat's Cradles are there in the world?**


	6. Chapter 6: The Storm of the Graveyard

**AN: Hi everyone! Sorry updates are a bit slow these days. Last week I had a bunch of tests, a bunch of notes on rhetoric writing and electric physics, and getting into One Piece...but fear not! The story will continue!**

**I also want to thank everyone for your reviews, whether on Deviantart or here on . It always feels like a Christmas gift every time I get a positive review or comment :)**

* * *

><p>"Come on, Patti!" The girl in brown hollered at the other brunette.<p>

"I'm coming!" Patti picked up her pace and stopped next to her soulmate. She twisted her neck to gain one last look at Ding Dong Dell. The tall medieval towers reached for the morning sky where white whips of clouds floated along. Flags from thin poles fluttered peacefully in the wind. It was another calm day at the kingdom.

The quiet was broken by the loud, proud blowing of a horn. She spun on her heel, surprised. Patti found Esther holding up a long horn carved out of a material resembling an animal's horn. A horn made from another horn.

Patti took a few steps closer to the woman, staring at the instrument in her hands. "…Is that… a dragon horn?"

"Mm-hmm!" She hummed brightly. "Just wait; you'll get to meet our friend!"

"More like our oversized scaly mode of transportation we call a pet." Swaine grumbled as he scratched his neck.

"Hmph!" Esther huffed at him. "How would you like it if he called you a skinny roommate he calls an owner?"

"Don' care…" The man's head began to droop and his eyes grew heavy.

"Ooh, look, Pat! I think Dad's gonna fall asleep standing up!" Penny beamed at her father as if she was watching a comedy on TV and the comedian was about to do something utterly hilarious.

Unfortunately for her, his senses jumped back awake, jerking his head up. While he rubbed his eyes, he grumbled, "Sorry, Pen'…not today…_mumble, mumble…_"

"Didn't drink enough coffee or somethin'?" She cocked her head curiously.

"Mmph…" He mumbled.

Before anyone could say another word, they were interrupted by a friendly screech that came from the sky. Patti craned her neck up, discovering something dark purple soaring through the sky. As it flew closer, the purple something became a huge, winged reptile with a green collar around its large neck. The dragon flapped his wings, sending bursts of wind up from the earth. His hind legs made contact with the ground and he let out a soft, "Kyah!"

"Hey there, boy!" Esther wrapped her arms around the reptile's muzzle. He purred and snuggled against her body affectionately. "Ooh, who's a good boy? Ooh, yes you are!" After she was done gushing over him, she turned her attention back to the girl in blue. "This is Tengri. Tengri, meet Patti!"

"Kya!" The reptile waddled towards the girl who stared at him with surprise. He brought his nose closer, taking in a few whiffs of her smell. His green eyes widened and he chirped happily.

"Whoa-haha!" Patti found Tengri's face nuzzling next to her cheek as he purred. A long pink tongue slid up her face. "Ack-haha, that tickles!"

"Looks like he likes ya'!" Penny scratched the dragon behind his horns. Almost immediately his hind leg moved up and down, like a dog's. "Hey, I know…I bet you smell a bit like Oliver! I'll bet Tengri remembers his smell and that's why he likes you so much!"

"So this is the Tengri from the book…wow…" She whispered. "He's so sweet! Heehee, that tickles!"

"Kya, kyah!"

"Okay, Scales, we've had enough of your shenanigans." Swaine patted Tengri's neck with his wiry hand. At this, the dragon jerked his head around and began to prod his nose against the thin man's body.

"Hey-stop it-cut it out!" He gently but firmly pushed Tengri's face from him. "If you think you're going to get any peppermints, then guess again! Now heel!"

"Kya!" The dragon sniffed the man's body again, trying to investigate his trench coat pockets.

"Hey, stop it! Ack-hey, heel! I said heel!" Swaine was pushed to the ground and the reptile gave him a lick straight across his face, coating him with slobber.

"Ackpth! Down, boy, down!"

A giggle rang from Patti's grin. She pressed her palm against her mouth, hoping to hide her laugh. Something suddenly tapped her shoulder lightly.

"Come on!" Penny skipped over to Tengri's side and climbed onto his back. "Seeing a dragon must be pretty cool for you, but wait 'till we get up in the sky!"

"Y-you mean flying?" Patti gasped, awestruck at the idea. It sounded like something from a fairytale.

"You bet!" Esther crawled onto the majestic beast's back as well and sat in front of her daughter. "Hop on!"

The girl stepped forward, carefully placed her hands on the scales, and pulled her body up. Her boot suddenly lost grip, and she fell to the ground, rolling onto the dirt.

"Owch!"

"Whoa, Patti! You okay?"

"Yeah…I think so." She pushed her torso up with her arms. As she stood up she patted the dust off of her dress.

"Yeah, you gotta be careful." Swaine said over his shoulder as he started his climb. "There isn't much of a hold on these scales, so mounting Tengri here can be a bit tricky."

"Oh…okay." Patti reproached the dragon and grabbed onto his body again. This time Esther's hand stretched out to her. The brunette clasped her hand around the woman's and was pulled up.

Patti pressed her palm against the purple scales. It felt so smooth and cool, like the flesh was made of water. The sensation was very different from what she had expected; the closest she had gotten to a dragon back home was a tiny green lizard that had climbed onto her windowsill one day.

"Hey, you guys ready?" Esther hollered over her shoulder.

"We're ready for takeoff, Mom!" Penny raised her hand in a snappy salute.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Swaine said before looking at the new girl who sat in front of him. "What about you, Patti?"

"H-how do I hold on?" Patti fiddled with the hem of her dress nervously at the idea of falling off of a dragon from three hundred feet off of the ground.

"Easy! Just hang onto me!" The tomboy flashed a thumbs up. "Trust me, we do this all the time. It's perfectly safe when Mom's driving!"

"So you're saying it's not safe when your old man's driving?" Swaine barked sarcastically. "Last time I checked, I got us to Ding Dong Dell and The Fairygrounds just fine."

"Yeah, and nearly crashed landed last time." Esther said while she adjusted her hands around Tengri's collar.

"Hey, it was just that one time! Some dust got in my eye!"

"Yeah, sure…" A teasing smile formed on the mother's face and she gave her dragon a soft clicking noise with her tongue. Obeying her command, the dragon's wings stretched out to their majestic length. They then pumped down, propelling him off the ground a few inches.

"Ah!" Patti gasped and hugged her soulmate from behind.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Penny chirped. "Just wait!"

They didn't have to wait long; after a few more flaps the dragon gained some good altitude, hovering several yards above the earth.

"Let's go, Tengri!"

"Kyah!"

_Flooph, flooph, flooph_…

"W-wh-whoa!" Before she could blink, the world bellow Patti's feet grew small and distant as the dragon soared straight into the sky.

"So, whadya think?" Penny peeked over her shoulder. "Nice view, huh?"

"…wow…yeah…" The girl's blue eyes widened with wonder at how small Ding Dong Dell looked. The Rolling Hills spread out in wide plains of lush greenery. However the details of the vegetation grew blurred as they rose in altitude. The dragon flew through the breathtaking blue sky while thin white clouds sped past them. Cool air rushed past Patti's face and made her pigtails dance in the wind. Everything appeared to be ant sized, making the girl feel very small.

"Pretty awesome, isn't it? Next stop, Perdida!"

"Kyah!" Tengri pushed against the air with his wind wings and flew through the blue, blue sky, vanishing from sight until the purple flying dot became nothing.

* * *

><p>"…Do you see them, Drippy?"<p>

"Sorry, mun, but I've got nothin'!" The fairy yelled back at the wizard. Drippy's lantern swung in the wind as he stood from the top of a roof, searching the kingdom bellow him. Huffing a sigh, he jumped down from his perch and landed squarely at Oliver's feet.

"Do you think they already left for Perdida?"

"I guess that's a possibility, yeah, but it's hard to say." Drippy scratched his head. "Blimey, why didn't that ol' Rashaad give us more details on their vacation schedule?!"

"If they're here, then we should stay and look, but if they're already heading to Perdida…" Myrtle's voice tailed off, "then we shouldn't waste any time here."

"Hmph. Quite a problem we have on our hands. Hard to choose what to do with the lack of facts. Not tidy at all…" The Lord High Lord of the Fairies crossed his arms. "Oi, Ollie-boy, you didn't happen to learn a spell on how to locate someone over these past fifteen years, did ya'?"

The man shook his head. "No…I haven't even touched my wand before Patti vanished."

"Oi? So what'd you do with it, hide it in the fireplace? Haha…"

"…Yeah, that's where I hid it and The Wizard's Companion."

"Whoa, no joke?" Drippy took a step back, surprised. "Well, anyway…Let me try my telepathy with my buddies back home. Maybe they've got an idea." He squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his fingers against his temples, and hummed in deep thought.

"…Oliver, how does his telepathy work, exactly?" Myrtle whispered to Oliver.

"Beats me. He never told me himself. I heard from this other fairy that that's what happens when they really get to know each other-"

"OI! Got it!" Drippy's voice exploded into the air.

"J-jeepers! What is it, Drippy?"

"Have your friends seen Patti?!" Myrtle asked with a sudden spark of hope.

However, the fairy shook his head. "Nah, lass, I know how we can find Penny and the others! Oi, it's so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it before! I mean, really..."

"Really? How?"

"Simple, mun-The Cat's Cradle!"

"Huh?" Oliver and Myrtle glanced quizzically at each other, not sure what to make of Drippy's idea.

"Let me finish, Ollie-boy. Penny and her parents are traveling, right? They probably spent the night here in Ding Dong Dell, and the only place to do that is The Cat's Cradle! I'll be my lantern that the cat lady at the desk knows if they're here or away!"

The couple's eyes widened. Before anyone could blink, the two adults sprinted down the street, towards the inn.

"Whoa! Oi, wait for me!" Drippy dashed after them, keeping up at their heels. "You can't leave the genius behind!"

The scenery of the kingdom blurred past them as people were firmly shoved out of the way. Oliver's shoes patted furiously against the road as he ran forward, not bothering to catch his waning breath. Myrtle gripped onto her dress while her legs heavily pumped blood, propelling her to her husband's speed. They turned on their heels and burst through the door of the inn.

"O-oh my sardines!" The reception grimalkin jumped, causing some papers in her paws to flutter onto the desk. "Are you alri-"

"Excuse me, ma'am, but have you seen a family of three check in recently?" Oliver's words flew out in a panicky speed. "A man, a woman, and a young girl?"

"Um…Did the man have dark brown hair? And a blonde woman? And a purrty girl with chestnut brown hair?"

"Y-yes, the woman looked just like me!" Myrtle interjected urgently. "Are they still here?"

"N-no, they just left this morning with a friend."

"A friend…?"

"Why yes," she purred, "you see, when they came here last night, they had another girl with them. She looked just like their daughter, or the girl you described. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was the little kitten's twin sister!"

"What?!" Drippy exclaimed, leaping onto the desk so he could come nose to nose with the cat-lady. "Seriously? A girl that was a mirror image of the other lass?"

She nodded as she picked up the papers she had just dropped moments ago. "Yes. Although when I asked about her, they said she was a friend, not the girl's twin."

"D-did the other girl have a blue dress with a pink ribbon at the waist?" Oliver's palms landed onto the desk as he leaned forward.

"Yes…"

The redhead, the blonde, and the fairy's eyes met up, stretching their eyelids widely.

Oliver whipped back to the grimalkin. "You said they weren't here, right? You mean they left Ding Dong Dell?"

"Just this morning. I don't know where they're going thou-"

"Blimey, we'd better leg it to Perdida, mun! Pronto!" Drippy hopped off of the desk with urgency in his voice. "Sounds like your little lass is with Penny and the others!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Oliver ran out of the door while tossing a "Thank you, ma'am!" over his shoulder. Myrtle and Drippy dashed after him, leaving the grimalkin staring at the door, surprised at the speedy events that had taken transpired in front of her desk.

"Mreow…That was fast…" She ran a paw through her dark fur. Her mind was still in a blurry, hazy mess from the memory. "Maybe a saucer of milk would calm me down…" She shuffled away, disappearing though a doorway presumably leading to a kitchen.

* * *

><p>The wind whistled shrilly, carrying cool drops of moisture from the rain. Patti cringed when each drop landed on her bare arms or her face. She tried to wipe her bangs out of her face.<p>

"Hey, Penny! How much longer is it till we land?"

"Beats me!" The tomboy yelled back, over the howling wind. "Hey, Mom, are there yet?"

"No!" Esther barked back. From behind, the woman was hunched over slightly. In the front, her face was molded into a concentrated scowl and her hands clutched onto the dragon's green collar as if it was a life preserver. "Urgh…this storm isn't good."

"You can say that again." Swaine grumbled. "I'm dripping like a wet dog back here!"

"Just keep your complaints to a minimum until I get out of this storm, alright?"

"Yeah, yea…ah…ah-choo!"

"Gesundehit!" Patti said to the lanky man behind her. She then took notice of how much she shivered at the harsh raindrops hitting her skin. Her shoulders hunched to her face, trying to ignore the wet pain.

**CA-BANG!**

"Aah!" The tamer squeaked as her blue eyes squeezed shut. Sensing her fear, Tengri faltered in his flying.

"Whoa!" Patti clung onto her soulmate's waist. "Is everything okay?"

"I-I think," Penny muttered uncertainly. "Mom's not exactly crazy about thunderstorms…"

Another bang of thunder rang through the air with a flash of electric light. The blonde whimpered and hugged Tengri's neck.

"Pull yourself together, Esther!" Swaine gruffly yelled over the roaring wind. "This isn't the time to be chickening out! Just focus and land somewhere safe!"

"R-right…" She took a tense breath and clicked her tongue. Her dragon chirped nervously and flapped his wings through the rain. The tamer leaned to her right, scanning her eyes through the haze of the weather for a safe place to reach the ground and wait out the storm.

**BANG!**

Esther winced, tensing her shoulders. "J-just hang on, guys. I-I'll find a place to land soon."

Patti exchanged a worried glance with the tomboy in front of her. "Um, I guess this means we'll be staying…down there… for a while, right?"

"Yeah, down there…hey, Dad, where are we?"

Swaine stared at the earth bellow. Through the haze he could barely make out traces of gloomy fog and eerie trees. "Looks like the Tombstone Trial to me."

"Whoa, do you think we'll get to see some dead people?" Penny's voice held more excitement than fear.

"Penny, would it kill you _not_ to make us worry every five min-"

**BANG!**

A thick bolt of lightning stabbed its sharp edge past the dragon. The bright light flashed like a powerful camera in Patti's eyes. She could even smell the electricity in the air. Raindrops continued to run down her face like beads of cold sweat.

"P-Penny, doesn't lightning tend to hit the tallest object…?"

"Oh, yeah…we're like a human lighting rod up here!" Penny's words held sudden worry, now serious. "Hey, Mom-"

"Not now, Penny!" Esther's hair danced wildly in the wind, now damp. "Just hang on!"

"Why can't we land now?!" Penny gestured to the ground miles below.

"I'm trying to find a SAFE place to land!" The blonde turned around and yelled over the storm. "We're already in danger up here! I'm not going to put everyone out of the frying pan and into the fire by crash land-"

"Esther, stop yelling and watch where you're going!" Swaine pointed a thin finger at the front of the dragon wildly.

"Wha-AAHH!" She shrieked. They were flying straight towards a tall, sharp mountain. "Hold on!" Esther gently tugged at Tengri's collar and he pointed his head up, flying against the direction of gravity.

When Patti glanced down, she saw the jagged rock of the mountain blur under as they rose higher and higher, until the dragon peaked above the tip of the needle-like rock.

For a split second, they froze, as the dragon's neck arched down, raising Esther to the highest point.

**CA-BANG-ZZZzzzZZZ!**

The cries of electricity and the woman cut through the air. In a matter of moments, her entire body jerked with the current of the lighting, tossing her overboard.

"NO!"

"ESTHER!"

"MOM!"

"KYAH!"

Four pairs of eyes stared at the falling tamer, who was slowly fading away from view. The dragon, in a state of shock, hovered in his place midair. There was a low rumble of more thunder from the distance. That seemed to snap Penny out of her trance, and she crawled up to Tengri's collar.

"Come on, Tengri!" She yelled. "We've got to go after her!"

"Wait!" Patti reached out her hand as if to stop her. "That's too dangerous! We can't just nose dive after her!"

"Not if I can help it!" The tomboy shouted with stubborn determination. "I'm gonna go save her-"

"Penny, don't!" Swaine barked.

"But we have to get Mo-"

"_Penelope_, don't even _think_ about nose diving towards your mom!" He yelled sternly as his daughter blinked at his words. "I want you to steer Tengri someplace safer! Do you understand?!"

"Y-yeah, Dad." She stuttered. Penny took a deep breath, and said to the dragon, "Come on, Tengri."

"Kyah…" He sadly cried and flew away, through the cold rain and harsh wind while hearing blast of thunder.

* * *

><p>The girl's boots patted softly against the hard ground of rock. She coiled her hands around one of her pigtails and squeezed it lightly as it dripped with rainwater. Patti did the same with the other while her soulmate wringed out her brown hat.<p>

"Boy, I'm soaked…" Penny flipped the semi-dry hat back on. "…Mom must be, too…" With sad eyes, she rubbed her hands over her bare arms, shivering and textured with goosebumps.

Meanwhile, Swaine and his familiar, Gunther, pulled at a strange tree-like plant that somehow grew in between the rock cracks and within the darkness of the cave.

"Ugh…c'mon, you…ugh!" He grunted. The leafless tree finally snapped and was free. "Ha…there." The man tossed it to the ground and stomped his foot down, breaking it into smaller branches.

"Swaine, shouldn't we be out looking for Esther?" Patti asked as she stared at the cave entrance. It acted as a window to the outside world of raging thunder and pouring rain.

"Don't worry; once I get a fire going with this stuff for you guys, I'm going out to find her." After stamping his foot one last time, he bent over and arranged the dry wood into a pile. The man dug into his pocket, mumbling, "Now where are those damn matches…" and pulled out a small box. His wiry fingers grabbed a thin match and stroked it against the box.

_Ffit, ffit,ffit_-"Oh, come on…" _ffit, ffit, ffit_-"C'mon, you bloody…" _ffit, ffit_-"Damn it."

"What's wrong, Dad?" Penny leaned over and stared at the match and box in his hands. "…oh…they're wet, aren't they?"

"Completely soaked." He grumbled, dropped the useless match, and ran a hand through his curly hair. "Blast it…"

"Wait," Patti rummaged into her satchel and pulled out her wand. "I think this is pretty dry..."

The girl furiously rubbed the broken ends of the wand together until a sparkling ember lighted from the friction. An orange orb of flame burst at the wand's tip. She slowly lowered the fire to the firewood, and the burning embers ensnared the kindling, becoming a low, crackling fire.

"Ah…" She smiled at her success while her eyes glowed in the firelight. Patti tucked her dress under and sat down. Her soulmate did the same, leaning on an elbow that sat on her knee.

"So what now?" Penny glanced at her father, who was standing up. The cave wasn't terribly deep but tall enough for Swaine to stand at his full height.

"You two stay here." He walked away, speaking over his shoulder. "I'm gonna look for blondie."

"But Dad-"

"No buts, Pen'." He cut her protest short. "Esther was electrocuted by lightning and fell from Tengri in the sky. She's obviously hurt, and I don't think she'd be too happy if you got injured, too." Swaine twisted his neck, revealing another one of his trademark smirks. "I'm not feeling up to seeing her in her furious glory, so hang tight here with Patti and Tengri, alright?"

Her face hung down. "Okay…just…just promise you'll come back with Mom!" She looked up as the last word passed her lips.

Swaine's dark eyes grew emotional, betraying his teasing voice while he replied, "Sure thing, Pen'. Just promise me you'll stay outta mischief while I'm gone."

"'Kay."

The man turned around, walked into the drizzling rain, and vanished from sight. Patti and Penny glared silently at the warm fire as it painted the cave walls with their shadows.

_"Mom…please be okay…you gotta be…you just have too…"_

_ "I hope Esther isn't hurt too badly...and that Swaine doesn't kill himself finding her, too…Oh, Dad, I could really use your help right now…"_


	7. Chapter 7: The Connection of Pain

**AN: Hiya, guys! Sorry it took so long for the update, but this is my most tedious fanfic yet (or so it feels like to me...), so I thank you for your patience! **

* * *

><p><strong>Ch7: The Connection of Pain<strong>

Rivers of red hot lava oozed next to hard dark rock that had accustomed to the blazing heat. The air vibrated with heat like the inside of an oven. Smoky clouds blanketed the normally blue sky in a thick grey. A few trees with coal-like bark managed to survive in the smoldering atmosphere of Old Smokey. Standing at the edge of the mountain was a round fairy with a lantern on his nose.

"Careful, Ollie –boy!" Drippy shouted below his cliff. "That stuff looks proper hot!"

"I know!" The wizard hollered back as he carefully placed another foot to his left. He was pressed against the stony side of a volcano and shuffling slowly along a narrow strip of rock.

"Just don't look down, mun! Or else you'd be toast!" Drippy skipped ahead in the direction of his friend was crawling. When he looked down, he saw Myrtle sitting on a wide, lower cliff that was connected to the thin edge her husband was treading on.

"Oi, hang in there, lass! Youer hubby's almost there!"

"O-okay…" She hugged her knees nervously. Her sapphire eyes stared at the landscape of lava and heat before her eyes. Orange, smoke, and high temperatures stretched out in front of her perch.

"Don't worry, Ollie-boy's on his way! You've got The Savior to youer rescue!" He yelled and turned away for a moment. "Blimey, I can't believe Ollie-boy got so flustered his Travel spell sent us right here! I mean, Old Smokey! That's a proper distance from Perdida, it is." The fairy mumbled to himself. "And I nearly fell straight into the lava! Flipping heck, and poor Myrtle fell down yonder. I just hope when he gets to her he doesn't mess up that spell again. What'll be next then, Yule?!"

Before his ramblings could go on, his ears picked up a distressed sound from bellow. "Oi?" He walked to the edge and looked at the blonde, who was now bent over. "You all tidy, lass?"

Myrtle's answer was a hiss of pain while she held her torso. Her face squeezed into a grimace.

"Myrtle? You okay down there?"

"Urghhh…I-I don't know…" The lady's shoulders hunched over as she suppressed the urge to scream.

"What's wrong? Tummy ache? Did you eat somethin' bad back at Ding Dong Dell?"

Uungh…!" She lurched forward. "Ughhh…!"

"Uh-oh…I've got a bad feeling in my lantern about this…" The fairy dashed over to where Oliver was still slowly shuffling and yelled. "Oi, hurry up, mun! I think something's wrong with Myrtle!"

"W-what?! What do you mean?!"

"I don't know, but she's definitely in pain, so hurry up!"

Gritting his teeth, the man shuffled against the cliff faster, and finally reached his wife, who was trembling weakly.

"Myrtle! What's wrong?"

"Ungh…my body just s-started to hurt all of a-uungh!" She hissed. "Rrgh…this isn't normal, Oliver. I-I don't know what's wrong with my body…"

"Hang on," He pulled out his wand and drew a shining rune in front of her. It glowed coolly and faded into her skin with sparkles of magic. Everyone was quiet for a moment until Myrtle hissed in discomfort again.

"What?! Healing Touch didn't work?"

The woman clenched her teeth together. "N-no…I don't feel any diff-uugh!"

Oliver's eyes grew wide with fear. He looked up to the fairy. "Drippy! Let's go!"

"Righto!" Drippy leaped gracefully onto the lower ledge and whipped around. "Perdida isn't going anywhere; let's just get Myrtle to a doctor, pronto!"

He nodded, gripped onto Myrtle's waist, and let the fairy hop onto his shoulder as he drew another symbol in the air.

"Travel!"

"Oi, you'd better not mess up this time, Ollie-boy!"

* * *

><p>The humble fire crackled softly as it cast its orange glow on the pair of girls sitting by it. They faced each other while holding simple cards. A deck of the rest of the cards sat in between them.<p>

"Got any nines?" Penny asked, staring at her hand.

"Go fish." Patti replied quietly, almost inaudible to the other.

"Darn…" Her pale fingers pinched another card from the stack and stuck it into her hand.

Patti parted her lips to ask for some cards, but hesitated, glaring at her cards fanned out like a poker player's. The girl's blue eyes wavered as they got lost in her feelings, swirling around her brain. Her face was anything but a poker face.

Tengri, who was lying sadly on one side of the cave, raised his head. "Kyah…?"

She turned her head to the scaled creature. "I-it's going to be okay, Tengri. I'm sure they'll be back any minute."

"How long has it been, anyway?" Penny's asked with a deadpan tone. Her face held a stiff expression, emotionless.

"I don't know…a couple of hours?"

"Hmph…" The tomboy quietly signed. She stared at the open cave entrance. The thunderstorm had gotten tired and melted into a light, misty drizzle. No more blaring thunder or flashing lightning, just the _pipipipipit_ of thin raindrops.

"…So…Penelope, huh?"

"Huh?" Penny jerked her head back to her soulmate.

"That's what your dad called you back there…before you nose dived after Esther." Patti hugged her knees, holding her cards to the side.

"Oh. Yeah, that's my full name. Penny and Pen' are just nicknames." She set her hand of cards on the rocky ground and began to build a house of cards with the rest of the deck while she continued. "Kinda surprised me back there. My parents only call me that when I'm in _big_ trouble or something important. I guess…not going after Mom was important, huh?"

Patti weakly laughed in response, and Penny started on the second row of cards. "…Y'know, it would have surprised me even more if he called me by my full name."

"Why?"

"Dunno, I just can't really remember the last time he said my first, middle, and last name in the same sentence." Her eyes grew distant while her meticulous hands placed the last two cards on the top. It was a miracle that it was standing so perfectly on the rocky floor. "...What's yours?"

"It's Pattricia. Everyone just calls me Patti, though…"

"Mm…" Penny hummed in acknowledgment. Her hand plucked a card from the bottom, letting gravity pull the house of cards into a meek pile. She picked them up and shuffled them past her fingers. "Pretty name."

As the tomboy continued to play with the cards, Patti stared at her soulmate's hands; they were twitching faintly, nervous, but the task of shuffling a deck seemed to calm her restless fingers down.

_"She…she's trying to keep her hands busy to distract herself…"_

"Penny," she whispered. "I'm sure Swaine will be back with Esther any minute now. I know they'll be okay."

The girl in brown stopped her shuffling to look up with raised eyebrows. Then her expression softened. "…Yeah…they'll be fine." She let the deck flip past her thumb. "…I just hope Mom's injuries aren't too bad."

Patti twisted her finger around her left pigtail, letting the idea sink in. A woman thrown off the back of a dragon from the sky, struck by a strong bolt of lightning, and landing in the middle of one of the most dangerous places of the Another World…who knew what sort of damage was done to her body?

Tengri suddenly raised his head, sniffing the air. His green eyes pointed at the cave entrance. "Kya…?"

"What is it, boy?" She questioned the huge reptile and turned in the same direction. A gasp escaped her lips.

A large silhouette was approaching the cave. It was blurry in the drizzle, but as it grew closer, the shape became more distinct. Something tall, and walking towards them on two legs.

Carrying another person in their arms, covered in a green coat.

"Huff…huff…Damn…" The lanky figure cursed as his soggy shoes dragged on the rocky ground. His curly hair sagged in front of his face like a wet dog's fur. A few chilly raindrops raced down his angular chin and under his stubble.

"Dad!"

"Swaine!"

The two girls jumped from their spots and ran towards him.

"H-hey, girls." He jerked his head up to toss his drenched hair out of his dark eyes. "You alright?"

"We're fine, but what about you?"

"How's Mom?"

Penny's answer came in the form of a hiss of pain from the shivering body in Swaine's arms. The bundle was concealed in his green trench coat, but a closer look revealed the blonde's condition.

Gritting her teeth, Esther cringed as she pulled her body inward the best she could. Her long skirt was covered in twigs and violent scratches. The tamer's blond hair, now drenched to the very last strand, twisted with tangles in a haywire mess. She held her arms tightly where her knuckles almost turned white. As she breathed shakily, her diaphragm trembled abnormally; there were several wide, long scratches torn into her torso, each one glistening with rainwater and a deep blue liquid. An abnormal substance seeming to poison every cell of her scratched up body.

Patti gasped, raising her hands to her open mouth. "W-w-what happ-"

"I'll give you the details later," The man barked. "We have to get her to a hospital, _now_!"

"Kya!" Tengri immediately stood and prodded his nose against Esther's face. "Kya…?"

"Ungh…h-hey, Tengri." She cracked an eye open, reached out a shaky hand, and petted the reptile. "There, there, it'll be-ungh!" Her mouth distorted into another grimace.

"Esther, I told you not to strain yourself! You've got to take it easy or else you'll end up in even worse shape!" He pierced his eyes at the blonde, half expecting her to bark back, beginning another one of their famous bickers, but she meekly nodded instead.

Patti sensed the situation, and Penny grew serious; if her Mom was too weak to argue with her Dad like they always did, then…this was bad. Really, really bad.

"Tengri, come on!" She ran out into the rain. "We don't have time to lose!"

The purple dragon waddled out as fast as his hind legs could while Patti and Swaine walked besides him.

"Get on! Hurry!" Penny commanded as she climbed onto Tengri's back at the front. She craned her neck to the grey sky, feeling the wind push past her face.

"Penny, just steer us to Hamelin." Swaine said as he carefully pulled Esther up with him. "That storm went north, and if we head back home, then we'll run into trouble again."

"Right! Come on, boy!" The tomboy gently pinched her heels into Tengri's sides, and he flexed his wide wings, soaring up into the dreary sky, through the drizzle. In the air, the wind rushed by them icily, refusing to show a drop of mercy. Patti's teeth chattered, but her discomfort was nowhere near the level of Esther's pain. She shivered sickly and had lost awareness of her surroundings, unconscious.

"Swaine," Patti said over her shoulder. "What happened to her?"

"…I don't know all the details. When I found her, she was already in pretty bad shape, but she was being attacked by this monster."

"You mean a monster from around here?"

The man's head swung back and forth. "N-no, at least not one of the normal ones."

"W-what do you mean?" Her voice wavered.

"I mean this one was a big one that I've never seen before. And it nearly turned Esther into his dinner." He pointed his bony finger at the blonde's body, indicating the heavy cuts on her, especially the ones on her torso that were coated with blue liquid. "…And this stuff is probably poison."

"W-what?! Like venom?"

"Yeah, some sort of weird venom from his teeth." His eyes viewed the injuries, frowning. "…it was a pretty close call back there."

"Huh?"

His right hand twitched, still holding Esther. "She was fighting against that son of a…I-I mean monster…and almost finished her. I managed to shoot it with my gun and get us away from there in time."

"Oh…so it's dead?"

He shook his head, sending a few raindrops flying. "I doubt it. I was focusing more on getting Esther outta there. That bullet probably just scratched him, at most." The man clenched his teeth.

Patti's hand hovered to her chest, feeling the nervous thumping of her heart. Her mind galloped through her memory lane of the stories in _The Another World._ Tales of her father fighting against beasts four times his height. Monsters with teeth longer than his arm. Hostile creatures that nearly sent him to his death multiple times.

"Hey!" Penny shouted, halting Patti's train of thought. The drizzle was beginning to lift, but the wind refused to quit, as it shoved against them restlessly. "Hold on! We're almost there!"

Patti looked back at the quivering woman in Swaine's thin arms. Her normally pale skin resembled a more sickly shade of white, tired and lifeless.

_"Esther…just hang in there…"_

* * *

><p>Inky clouds floated in the sky above, shedding raindrops down onto Oliver's head. His arms wrapped around Myrtle's shoulders, supporting her as she breathed heavily. She leaned heavily on his shoulder.<p>

"Myrtle, just hang on. We'll get you to a hosp-"

"Oi, where'd we end up this time, buntin'?" Drippy suddenly inquired, wiping moisture from his lantern. He looked around him and made out through the drizzle abandoned railroad tracks and lonely machines sporting solid coats of rust. The vegetation was sparse in this barren landscape, leaving nothing but fresh mud on the earth.

"I just took us to the first place I could think of…Hamelin."

"Awright then. I know they've got some good hospitals in that city of smog. Let's see…" The fairy turned his nose slowly, and stopped. In the distance he could make out a light of some sort from a large fortress like structure. "Oi, I see it! Up ahead! C'mon, let's leg it!"

Oliver looked down to his wife, who nodded weakly. While the trio plodded through the thick mud, Myrtle leaned against the wizard as their feet sank into the soaked dirt. Rainwater, mud, an erratic breeze…by the time they reached the entrance of the industrial metropolis, everyone looked like complete messes.

"Yuck! We look like we were raised in a pigsty!" Drippy's long nose wrinkled in disgust. His turquoise fairy suit was no longer turquoise; murky brown was more like it. Patches of mud covered up Oliver and Myrtle's lower legs and shoes. The couple was about to go on when the Lord High Lord of the Fairies raised his hand. "Hold it, Ollie-boy! Haven't you ever heard of wiping your feet before you go in?"

"B-but Myrtle needs a doctor! We don't have time to was up or-"

"Easy there, mun. Just hold still for a sec'." Drippy clapped his palms together and brought them in a circle above his head. "Abra-ca-_flippin'_-dabra!" With a louder clap of his hands, he grabbed his nose and wiggled it. Tiny, shiny tears suddenly peaked at the corners of his eyes. Similar drops of water rained down onto Oliver and Myrtle. As they poured down, the dirt and mud slipped off like grease. When the shower of tears was done, the trio was spotless. However, the blonde's condition was still poor, as she was still using Oliver as a support to stand.

"See? Just a quick Tidy Tears was all we needed." The fairy spun on his heel towards the city and skipped forward. "Now let's leg it! We don't have all day!"

"W-wait, slow down, Drippy!" The redhead called out. With his arm around Myrtle's shoulder, he walked slowly with her.

Hamelin, the steampunk styled capital, was not much different from fifteen years ago. Tall iron lampposts burned with a warm yellow glow, illuminating the hard brick streets and nearby generators. Steam powered machines hummed without rest with metallic gears clinking heavily together. The citizens of Hamelin didn't pay too much mind to the travelers, nothing more than a short curious stare. Smoke and smog floated up to the ceiling of the closed city, resulting in a grey haze.

They went through the streets of Hamelin, down metal stairs and past tall apartment houses. As they turned around a narrow corner between two buildings, Myrtle's breathing grew heavier, faltering in her steps.

"Myrtle, just hang in there a little longer…" Oliver stopped to let his wife regain her composure. "Hey, Drippy, how much further is the hospital?"

The fairy, who was hopping ahead of them, froze with a blank expression in his eyes. "…Oh knickers."

"Wait…don't tell me…"

"I-ah-thought skipping through the kingdom would jog my memory and get us there lickety split!"

Oliver would have squeezed the bridge of his nose if he wasn't holding Myrtle. "Drippy…"

"Oi, easy, mun! I-I bet there's one just around this corner! Y-yeah!"

Before the wizard could retort, a strident shout boomed over the kingdom's speaker systems. "Everyone, please prepare for today's Royal Procession! Clear the way and make your way into the nearest building! All Hail the Emperor!"

"Wh-what?"

"Uh-oh…I've got a bad feeling in my lantern…"

As if obeying the fairy's cue, the ground vibrated with the shifting of heavy machinery beneath. Nearby residents scrambled as fast as they could inside any structure or home…Anywhere but out on the street. Twenty ton buildings shifted up and swung around along the iron rails below.

"Whoa! Jeepers!" Oliver leaned back, nearly being knocked over by a heaving apartment complex.

"O-Oliver…huff…what on earth is going on?!" Myrtle wheezed.

"Don't worry, this is normal." The man reassured, "I'll explain later. Right now we have to go-"The back of his shirt suddenly got snagged onto a store sign of a moving building, carrying him away. "WH-WHOA!" He dangled in the air, limbs waving around. "J-jeepers!"

"Oliver!" Myrtle was about to attempt to sprint after him, but her shoes tripped over a rail. She landed onto the cold ground, but in her sickly condition it felt like being smashed into a slab of rock, bruising every bone in her body.

"OW! Urgh…"

"Oi, stay here, lass." Drippy commanded her while he dashed after the wizard, who was still being pulled away. "Leave Ollie-boy to me!" He ran off to the flailing man and jumped onto a nearby roof. Oliver reached behind to free his shirt from the predicament, but it was no use.

"Hang in there, mun. No pun intended!" The fairy grabbed the yellow fabric and pulled with all of his might. He grunted and tugged, muttering, "Oi, this just doesn't want to give youer shirt up, mun!"

"Try cutting it." Oliver said, turning his head as much as he could. "There's a pocket knife in my back pocket with my keys. Hurry!"

"Righto!" Drippy leaped to the ground, hopped up to the man's pocket, and plucked out a ring of keys with a tiny knife attached. "Bingo!" The keys jingled as the fairy jumped back onto the sign. He flipped out the blade, revealing a metallic shine. Sharp metal meshed against soft cotton, sawing through the thick threads.

"Just a little flipping more…"

_Snap!_

As the final yarn was severed, the wizard fell back to the ground. His shoes made a sharp thump when he landed. He straightened his posture and looked around.

"Okay, now we have to get back to Myrtle!"

"Oi, she was back in the middle of the street!" The fairy shouted while he ran alongside Oliver. "If we don't hurry, the Royal Procession will turn her into a human pancake!"

The redhead blinked, a horrifying image forming in his mind. _"Oh god…"_ He thought as he ran. _"Those floats could run over her!"_

Oliver picked up his pace while his breath grew heavier. He spun around a corner, not bothering to slow down for a moment. The Hamelin parade had already begun, and the massive floats rolled forward. They were still a dozen yards away, but lying in the middle of their path was a shivering blonde woman.

"Myrtle!"

She did not move at her husband's call. Instead, she lurched over as if the phantom of vomit was slowly overtaking her body. By this time, the float in the front had crept closer. It was bigger than a two story house and split into separate levels, each one with a row of standing guards. The Hamelin soldiers had taken notice of the figure lying in the middle of the road, and panicked in place while their float came closer to the woman.

"Urgh…" Myrtle clutched onto her arm. A pang of pain shot through her system, and she didn't have the foggiest idea why. The woman tried to get back onto her feet, but her dress was snagged into a steel rail, and she didn't have the strength to tear herself free.

"Myrtle!" Oliver reached her and crouched down, holding her by the shoulders. "Are you alright? We have to get out of the road!"

"Y-yes…ugh…!" She raised a quivering finger at her stuck dress. "B-but-"

"Leave it to me, lass!" Drippy jumped to the snag and stuck the pocket knife into the blue fabric. However, this material was a bit more stubborn, harder to cut. "Oi…c'mon…stupid dress!"

Meanwhile, the leading float hit the brakes, letting out the screeching cry of metal against metal. It resembled a steam locomotive making an emergency stop in an old movie. Panicked guards scrambled on the float, doing everything they could in their frenzy to stop.

"Stop the Procession! Stop all the floats! NOW!" One soldier yelled at the floats behind. "Hit the brakes! There's a woman stuck in the road!"

The other heavy machines on wheels hit their brakes, screeching to a halt in a similar manner. However, they still inched forward forebodingly towards Myrtle, who was still stuck.

"Bah, this won't get us anywhere!" The fairy spat as he handed the knife to the wizard. "Here, Ollie-boy, you try. I'm gonna stop this royal mess!" Drippy sprinted towards the leading float, and shoved his back against it. His small heels grinded against the hard road while he pushed back. "Hurghhhh!"

"Oh no…" Oliver knew the little fairy wouldn't hold out for long, let alone buy them some time. The man knelt down and furiously sawed the knife through Myrtle's dress, hoping to free her in time.

"Stop the Procession! Stop the Procession!" The Hamelin soldiers barked madly at each other. The floats in the back bumped into the float before them, and started a chain reaction of crashing machines, shoving them even closer to the helpless couple in the street. By this time the citizens were nervously glued to the situation, tittering amongst themselves.

"Who are those two?"

"They're going to be run over!"

"We have to help them!"

"Honey, wait! Then _we'll_ get hurt, too!"

These mutterings swirled around Oliver's brain, urging him to hurry. The thought of getting crushed under a massive, two-ton float…and with Myrtle's current condition…oh no…

At that moment, his hand gripped tightly onto the knife handle and feverishly slashed it across the fabric. With a mighty rip, the dress was free from the rail.

And the float was barely two feet away, until it crawled to a full stop. The would-be death machine was so close Oliver could have reached out to touch it. Of course, if his hands weren't full tending to the blonde.

"Myrtle! Myrtle, are you okay?"

She took a short, shaky breath, before her eyelids fluttered close and her body grew limp. Her head lolled to the side with pale skin.

"Myrtle! Wake up!"

"Oi, you alright, lass?" Drippy, retiring from his post in front of the float, hopped onto Oliver's shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw the woman. "Blimey…this doesn't look good."

"What's going on down there?" A masculine voice said from behind. Footsteps crept closer to them, making their way down from the top of the leading float. Hamelin guards stepped aside, letting the footsteps come even closer. Oliver felt a pair of boots stop behind him, but he was too engrossed with his unconscious wife to acknowledge. Instead, Drippy looked behind for him.

"Oi! Ollie-boy, you should get a load of this!"

The redhead shook his head. "We don't have time. We have to get Myrtle to a doctor, now!" He curled his arms under her body and stood up. Glancing over his shoulder, he said, "I'm sorry for interrupting the Royal Procession, but we-"The wizard stopped, blinking at the man standing behind him.

A tall, lean man stared at them with green eyes. Long black hair flowed from the crown of his head to halfway down his back. Around his shoulders a long purple cape hung down behind him, nearly brushing past the ground. The Hamelin emblem of royalty was imprinted on the front of his regal shirt with a leather belt around his waist. Latched onto his chest was a golden clasp in the shape of a pig's snout, gleaming in the artificial light of the city.

"Oi, long time no see, Marcy!" Drippy chirped, voicing Oliver's thoughts aloud. "Oh-ah, I suppose I should address ya' properly here. Ahem…Oi, there, Youer Majesty!"

"It's very nice to see you, Drippy." The man replied, acknowledging the fairy. He looked back at the redhead, squinting his eyes. "…Do…do I know you…?" He whispered, vaguely recognizing the wizard.

"M-Marcassin?!" Oliver cried. "I-is that you?"

That seemed to do the trick. "…O—O-Oliver?"

"Oi, it's been an age, no?" The fairy chuckled. "Well, it's still great to see you two remember each other. Yep, and all our adventures-"

He was cut off at Myrtle's sudden harsh breath. She opened her eyes for a split second, barely glancing at her steampunk surroundings, but fell back into the darkness of her sleep.

"Myrtle!" Oliver's face showcased nervous concern. Marcassin leaned over and looked at the blonde in the wizard's arms.

"…Esther…?"

The redhead nodded. "No, this is her soulmate from my world, Myrtle…my wife."

"Oh! But…is she okay?"

"Marcassin?" A quiet voice said before Oliver could answer the Hamelin Emperor. Shuffling up to them was a woman with a deep cobalt dress. Her raven hair was tied up into a formal bun but with a long strand of hair sprouting from the top, like a ribbon. Sapphire eyes glistened softly as the woman walked closer.

"Is everything oka-oh!" She gasped, noticing the blonde in Oliver's arms. The soft spoken woman whispered, "What happened? The …the float didn't…"

"No, no, she wasn't run over." Marcassin waved his well manicured hands in front of his chest. He turned back to Oliver. "But what happened to her?"

"I-I don't know. She was in pain a while ago, and when we got here, she passed out." The redhead tightened his protective grip on Myrtle. "I'm not sure what's going on, but she needs a doctor, fast!"

"Did you try Healing Touch?"

"I did, but it didn't work."

"It didn't…?"

"Nope, not even a bit, mun!" Drippy barked from the ground. "I may not be Lord High Lord of the Doctors, but I know when someone needs some medical TLC!"

"But if Healing Touch didn't work then…" The sage shook his head. "…Oliver, I think she'll need a lot more than a hospital doctor."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure myself, but if that spell didn't work, then something is seriously wrong."

"Then what should we do, mun?" The fairy tapped into his skull.

"…We should take her to the palace." He turned to the other lady. "Sapphire, I can explain everything later, but can you and Benjamin remain here in the Procession in my place?"

"Of course." She nodded surely. "I understand this is important to you. Don't worry, we'll finish the Procession and meet you back at the palace."

"Thank you." He gave her a sincere hug and the lady parted back to the float, talking with some Hamelin guards.

"Who was that?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Ah…" The sage scratched the back of his head. "That was Sapphire…my wife."

"W-w-what?!" The redhead nearly dropped his own wife. As she let out another shaky breath, the two men refocused on the situation.

"Oliver, we can catch up later. Right now we have to help Es-I mean Myrtle." He led Oliver towards the north part of the kingdom. "She may need some powerful magic to heal her, but we can't do that here in the street. We have to make haste to the palace!"

"Oi, but what about the Royal Procession, mun?" Drippy asked, jogging by their brisk feet.

"I'm sure Sapphire will handle it just fine. I trust her and she trusts me, so we have no need to worry about that." Marcassin's eyes clouded over with worry as he saw how pale the blonde in Oliver's arms looked. "We just have to hurry to the palace!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sapphire is an OC. Please refer to earlier chapters for more OC info. Everyone and everything else belongs to the game.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8: The Reunion of Family

Hamelin style columns stood against the metallic walls while the tiled floor reflected them palely. A dozen beds lined up in the long, narrow room, each one with a simple white sheet and pillow. The one at one end was occupied, and several people lingered around the patient.

Myrtle's chest rose up and down steadily, moving the blanket that was over her body. Her eyes were closed, oblivious to Oliver holding her hand tightly while a doctor with grey hair patted a damp cloth to her forehead. The Hamelin emperor stood at the side as he stared at the resting woman.

"So can you find what's ailing her?" Marcassin questioned the elderly man.

"I don't get it." The doctor removed his thick glasses. "I can tell she's ill, but I can't get why or how." He grumbled, fumbling with his stethoscope.

"Hmm…" The sage held his chin in his hand. "Oliver, could you repeat everything you know about this again?"

"About an hour ago, I messed up on Travel and sent us to Old Smokey instead of Perdida." Oliver said, rubbing his fingers together with his free hand. "She fell onto a cliff, but she didn't seem to be badly hurt…I went to get her, but before I reached her, Drippy said she was in pain."

"What sort of pain, exactly?"

Prompted by this, Drippy jumped onto the pipe frame of the bed. "The lass was in too much pain to tell us much. Let's see…she said her body was hurting…that's all I can remember, mun."

"And she collapsed in the street back there…" Marcassin's eyebrows scrunched together, thinking.

As the sage pondered quietly, Oliver gazed at Myrtle's face. Her skin was paler than normal and her mouth was parted slightly, breathing gravely. A drop of sweat began to form on her forehead, the dawn of a fever. Her lips were dried and chapped, unhealthy.

"Do you think it could just be a bug she caught from traveling? She isn't from this world, so it would be reasonable to assume she wouldn't have natural immunity to our illnesses..."

"No, this is no bug, Your Majesty." The doctor said, turning to the Emperor. "And it doesn't appear to be an infection or anything, either…I just can't pinpoint the source of this. And until I do, I can't treat her."

"_Damn…"_ Oliver gritted his teeth, tasting his bitter saliva against his tongue.

"Myrtle…" The redhead whispered. "…I am so sor-"

_THUMP! _"Ow!"

Everyone in the room nearly jumped in their spots. There was another voice coming from outside the infirmary.

"Penny! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tripped. Come on, his room's this way!"

"Righ-whoaOW!" _THUMP!_

"Wha? Patti, you tripped too?"

Oliver's breath hitched in his throat and his heart stopped. "P-P-Patti?!"

"Huh? Hey, did you hear that, Patti?"

"That…that sounded like my…!"

Footsteps scrambled from behind the wall and approached the door. With a hasty shove, the door swung open, and in its place was a young girl with light brown pigtails and a sky colored dress. She gasped, widening her blue eyes.

"Dad!"

"Patti!"

The girl wasted no time sprinting towards the wizard, jumping into his arms and hugging his neck.

"Dad! I can't believe you're here!"

Oliver tightened his embrace, holding his daughter closely as he murmured, "Oh, thank god you're safe, Patti…Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you…"

"Hey, what's up, Pat?" Another girl poked her head from behind the open door. Her pigtails bobbed under her hat and her eyes twinkled curiously.

"Wh-what?" The wizard blinked at the new face… or not-so-new, as she was a spitting image of Patti. He loosened his hug to look down at the girl in his arms. She opened her mouth to explain, but her voice was taken away when she got a look over her father's shoulder.

"M-Mom!" Patti separated from Oliver and dashed to the woman's bedside. She leaned over, pressing her hands into the bed, staring at her mother's face. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Mom…?" Penny muttered. She raised an eyebrow and took a good look around the room. A woman with frizzy blonde hair was under the covers of the bed designed for sick patients. Patti gazed at her with a quivering lower lip. The redheaded man quietly placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, staring at the woman, too. Meanwhile, the elderly doctor stood in his spot, unsure what to say or do in this situation. Standing beside him with his mouth agape was Marcassin, glancing at Patti and then back at Penny.

Seeing the Hamelin monarch, Penny blinked and leaned back into the hallway, hollering, "Hey, Dad, I think you should check this out!"

"Eh? We don't have time to be sightseeing, Pen'!" Another, older voice barked.

She stepped backwards into the hall. "I found Uncle! And a doctor!"

"What?! Why didn't you say so?"

Footsteps stomped closer and the tomboy frisked back into the room, making way for the approaching person in the doorway.

"Huff…huff…Marcassin, I-"A lanky figure panted, carrying a human bundle in his arms. The words hitched midway through his throat once he got a look inside. His jaded eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets in surprise.

To say Oliver's face was the definition of 'flabbergasted' was an understatement. The same rule applied to the doctor, the Sage, and the two girls, but in different ways. Everyone's breaths froze with the atmosphere, stalling any sort of reaction.

Patti was the first to regain her composure. She grabbed onto her father's arm and looked at his blue eyes. "Dad, Esther got attacked and needs help!"

"E-Esther?" The wizard whipped his head back to the lanky man, gazing at the familiar blonde shivering in the older man's arms. Oliver also took notice of the man's scruffy hair and angular face. His brain put the pieces of his memory back together, remembering the gruff thief.

"Swaine?! Esther?!"The Savior stepped closer to the couple with his eyes glued to them.

"O-Oliver? That really you?"

Oliver took another step and looked closer at the blonde in the man's arms. "Wh-what happened to Esther?" His eyes ran over the venom filled scratches over her torso and clothes.

"I'll tell ya' later," He barked sharply and shot a look at Marcassin. "Marcassin, we've got an emergency here!"

"Is it Esther?" The Sage asked as his older brother walked up to him, still supporting the injured tamer in his arms.

"Esther got beat up by this crazy monster and needs help, fast." He babbled. "We took her to the hospital, but they didn't have a clue on how to treat her."

Penny appeared by her father's side, looking up to the Sage. "We thought your magic could heal her. You can, right?"

"I-I can try, but…" Marcassin's voice trailed off.

"But what? You're a Great Sage, right?" The girl in brown glared at the Emperor. "Just like Grandpa! You're the best at magic in the world! And-and you can cast some powerful healing spells, can't you?"

"Y-yes, but I've never dealt with such a serious injury before with my magic…" The Sage's eyes pierced their gaze into the thick cuts through Esther's body.

"But you have to try!" Penny nearly shrieked. "Look, her injuries are just a few scratches with poison! It's not that complicated, really! There's got to be a spell that can help her!"

"Penny…" Swaine muttered, trying to calm the tomboy down. Her blue eyes were on the brink of tears.

She shook her head violently and glared at the Hamelin Emperor. "You have to try something! If you don't then…then…" The girl in brown bit down on her lower lip. "Then I'll find someone else to help her!"

"Penny, I never said I wouldn't try," Marcassin placed his hand on the pouting girl's right shoulder. "It's okay, I'll do everything I can."

She sniffed, wiped her nose, and nodded.

"Good." He straightened his legs and stood up. "Swaine, could you bring Esther over here please?" The Sage gestured to a nearby bed adjacent to the one occupied by Myrtle. While the adults were occupied with the new patient, Penny held a staring contest with her shoes.

Patti walked a step closer and gently placed her left hand on her soulmate's shoulder. She could feel how the flesh under her fingers tensed with emotion.

"…I just got really worried for a minute there." The tomboy whispered uncharacteristically. "When my Uncle didn't answer right away, I guess I pushed the panic button too soon. I…"

"Yeah, I'm worried about Esther, too…" Patti fought the urge to fiddle with her pigtail out of nervousness.

"..." Penny reached into her skirt pocket and fished out the deck of cards from earlier. She shuffled them between her slender fingers. The two girls stood in silence, observing the adults in the room.

Meanwhile, the doctor inspected the tamer's wounds. "Mmm…oh dear…"

"What?" Swaine barked impatiently. "Can Marcassin work his magic on her or what?"

"I…don't think even a Great Sage's magic would do much good here." The doctor murmured critically.

"Wh-what?!"

"These wounds are no everyday injuries." He pressed a hand to Esther's forehead, feeling her temperature. His old eyes then shifted to the deep scratches in her body oozing with venom. "A healing spell, even a potent one, would only bandage the problem, not cure it. Extracting this kind of poison this deep into the body system would be difficult to do so safely, by magic or by hand."

"What the hell do you mean, 'this kind of poison'?"

"See that unusual color and thick consistency?" The elderly man pointed out the cuts bizarre appearance, shimmering in the light. "Judging by the characteristics of these wounds and the symptoms the woman is experiencing…it sounds like she was attacked from a very rare beast."

"What kind of 'beast' are we referring to?" Marcassin raised an eyebrow.

"A very rare creature no one's ever closely examined before. It's so elusive, a scientific name hasn't even been decided for it yet. We don't know much about their kind, but we do know they utilize venom in the wild." He dug through his doctor's bag and pulled out a sterile syringe. As he extracted a sample of the wound's blue poison, he continued. "Of course, I can't be one hundred percent sure until I do some tests, but by the looks of this wound…"

"B-but isn't there an antidote?" Oliver interjected. "I mean, wouldn't that cure her?"

"If this stuff is the stuff I think it is, then yes, there _is_ an antidote…however…" The doctor's voice trailed off while he glared at the loaded syringe. "…it involves a very risky move."

"You mean…it could kill her…?"

"Oh no, no. I didn't mean that at all."

"Then what's so risky about it?"

"It's the key ingredient of the anecdote."

"…which is…?"

"Some of the monster's own saliva."

"…What?!" Everyone in the room exclaimed at once, save the sleeping blondes.

"Are you serious?"

"You're joking, right?"

"Wait, you mean she'll have to _drink _monster spit?"

"B-but why?" Patti's voice rang out to the doctor.

"The beast potent venom leaks through special openings in his claws." The doctor explained. "That's how it kills its prey. It then consumes the kill still poisoned. There is a unique chemical in their saliva that nullifies the venom's effect so they can safely digest the poison. That chemical is the key to the anecdote."

"Oh…I guess that would make sense…"

"So the risk is in becoming that monster's lunch while getting a good amount of its spit…great." Swaine mumbled, sitting down on Esther's bedside. He hunched over in thought, resting his chin on his palm as his elbow planted into his thigh.

"But if we can get a hold of that saliva…" Oliver sat down on Myrtle's bed, directly opposite of the other man. "…Then we can make the anecdote?"

The doctor nodded and rubbed his glasses with his white coat. "Yes, theoretically, with that medicine, we can save her."

The scruffy man blinked. "Wait…save her…?"

Pulling his lips together, the doctor cleaned the glasses more slowly. "…Yes. The venom is quite deadly to a human. It could kill someone in an instant in large quantities."

Patti gasped as a horrifying thought formed in her mind. Her pale hand covered her quivering mouth. "Y-you mean she's…going to d-d-…"

The doctor didn't reply, but instead closed his eyes and nodded.

Everyone took in a sharp breath of air. Any hope was out the window and replaced with shock.

The tomboy was the first to regain her senses. "Mom's gonna…die?" With wide eyes she dashed over to Myrtle's bed, to everyone's mild surprise. She glared at the woman, then back at her own mother, and knitted her eyebrows together.

"If mom's dying, t-then what's going to happen to her?" Penny pointed at the other blonde, recognizing her as Esther's soulmate. The resemblance between the sickly ladies was unmistakable. One would have to be blind not to see it. "I mean, if something happens to one soulmate, then…"

Before she could finish, Swaine's face grew a deadly shade of white with a tint of green. He suddenly dashed out of the room swiftly but urgently.

"Swaine!" Oliver ran to the door and poked his neck out, catching a glimpse of the scruffy ex-thief vanishing around a corner. Biting his lower lip, the wizard chased after the other man. Drippy yelped and ran out of the room, too, leaving the others in the room.

"Dad…" Penny whispered with emotion taking over her eyes. She blinked, rotated her neck, and stared at Esther.

The other young girl looked at the doctor in the eye. "Sir, how…how long do you think they have to live?"

He blinked, surprised at such a heavy question slipping past her lips. "Hard to say…" The doctor stared at the wounds around Esther's body. "…a day and a half, at most."

Patti's face twisted with deep thought. Her eyebrows knitted together as she tugged nervously at her pigtail.

A hand found its way to her hunched shoulder. When she tilted her face up, she came face to face with Marcassin.

"Patti, where did you encounter the monster again?"

"I-in the Tombstone Trial. Esther fell off of Tengri while we were flying in a storm."

"Okay…" He stood back up and spoke over his shoulder as he briskly walked to the door. "Doctor, can you please continue to keep an eye on Esther and Myrtle?"

"Yes, but where are you going, Your Majesty?"

"I'm going to dispatch my men to slay that beast and obtain its saliva." He opened the door. "I'll be right back!" As those words passed his lips, he vanished behind the door, leaving behind only the echo of his footsteps.

The room was silent for a moment. Patti gazed at her soulmate, then to Myrtle, and then the ailing tamer. Both blondes were sleeping, but breathing uneasily. Their faces were pale but clammy with sweat. It was clear that neither one of them was in tip top condition.

The girl in blue walked closer to her mom. She watched the pained expression on the woman's face accompanied with sickly twitches of her body.

"Mom…" Patti whispered. Turning around, she looked at Esther's injured body. Icky poison still glistened eerily, winking at her cruely. The desert woman's ailments grew more and more grave by the minute. And whatever happened to her would happen to the other…her mother…

Gulping suddenly, Patti whipped around and dashed out the door. She nearly knocked into Penny on her way out.

"Huh? Hey, Patti!" The tomboy barked and ran after the other girl, into the hallway. At her call, Patti hit the breaks and waited for her soulmate to catch up.

"Patti, where are you going?"

"To…to go and find that monster!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah," Her fingers clutched onto the fabric of her dress to pacify the desire to bite her tongue. "I mean, there's no way the Hamelin army can get to the Tombstone Trial in time, let alone find that monster!"

"Oh yeah…" Penny planted her fists on her hips. "We don't even know _where_ in that oversized graveyard that monster is."

"…No. We do, kind of."

"Huh?"

"We saw when she fell, remember? Near that tall pointy mountain…"

"And she fell somewhere down there…Yeah, we do know where she fell!" The tomboy hit her fist into her other hand.

"Right, and I don't think the Hamelin soldiers will be able to reach the Tombstone Trial, find the beast, get his spit, _and_ get back here in time." She paused. "…Our mothers don't have that kind of time."

"That doctor said they had a day and a half at _most_…" Penny stared at her boots before glaring at Patti saying, "Then let's go!"

"You mean…together?"

"Of course I do! There's no way I can let you have all the fun!" She chirped teasingly before her tone shifted to a more serious gear. "Besides, we're gonna need Tengri to find that same spot, and last time I checked you never graduated from Dragon Riding School. And you'll need some backup when we kick that beast's butt!" The girl in brown flexed her arm in a right angle and patted confidently on her muscle.

"Okay, then let's go!" Patti grabbed onto Penny's wrist and ran down the hall with the other girl in tow. Their stamping boots vibrated behind them as they ran.

"Wait, what about Dad and Swaine?" Patti asked over her shoulder, not looking where she was going. Before Penny could answer, they crashed into something.

"Oof!"

"Whoa!"

"Ow!"

"Oh!"

Four people fell onto the cold ground with a yelp. Patti pushed against the tile floor and rubbed her head with her hand. "Owch…" Once the pain had passed, she refocused her vision to the mysterious pair before her.

Before her a woman with black hair slowly sat up. Her hair was tied in a unique bun with a long strand of hair out the middle of the mass of hair. She wore a deep blue dress with puffy shoulders and elegant sleeves growing wider as they reached her wrists. A pearl necklace embraced her thin neck, matching her creamy white skin. As she opened her eyes, she revealed dark blue eyes, like perfectly cut sapphires.

Next to her was a young boy, maybe a year younger than Patti and Penny. His hair was almost as dark as the woman, and when the light hit it, the hair almost looked blue. Around his tiny shoulders was a little cape clasped with a bronze button in the shape of a pig's snout. He stared at the girl with apple green eyes.

"Um-um-uh-I-I'm sorry, we didn't mean to…" He stuttered shyly. The woman next to him carefully got to her feet.

"Oh…wait, Penny?" She whispered.

"Sorry, guys, we're in a hurry!" The tomboy quipped as she jumped to her feet. She clasped her fingers around Patti's hand, who was staring curiously at the woman and boy. "Come on, Pat! We gotta shake a leg!"

"R-right!" As Penny dragged her away, she shouted behind her, "I-it was nice meeting you guys!"

"Tell Dad and Uncle we're going out to the Tombstone Trial, 'kay!?" Penny yelled as she tugged her soulmate away. Meanwhile Patti gazed behind her, watching the two stare back at them.

"Hey, Penny, do you know them?" She asked, noticing a regal design on the front of the lady's dress and the boy's shirt.

"They're my aunt and cousin!" The tomboy replied. "But I can introduce you to them later; right now we have to get going!"

* * *

><p>"Ugh…" The scruffy man gagged over the toilet with a younger man standing behind him, patting him on the back.<p>

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah…" Swaine muttered. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. His mouth was still tainted with the disgusting aftertaste of puke.

"So…you're okay now?" Oliver knelt over to see the older man's somber face.

"I'll be fine." He mumbled, standing up from the toilet. "Just…I just felt all sick when…"

"Yeah, I know." The wizard nodded, walked to the outside of the bathroom, and leaned against the wall. "I'd probably empty out my stomach too if you didn't beat me to it."

"Hmph," With a half hearted smirk, Swaine walked out and leaned on the wall next to the younger man. However, his legs quivered weakly and he slid down to the floor into a sitting position. "…so you got hooked up, eh?"

"H-huh?" Oliver looked down at the brown haired gentleman, surprised.

"Her name was like Mary or something, right?"

"Myrtle."

"Right, right. Myrtle…Esther's soulmate."

"…yes, her soulmate…"

An air of silence settled over the two men. Oliver's tongue wiggled nervously around his mouth, tasting his stale saliva. "And you ended up with Esther."

"Yeah, mhmm."

"I never saw that one coming. You two were practically at each other's throats fifteen years ago."

"Never thought our momma's boy Savior would get hitched, either." Swaine leaned on his fist as his elbow dug into his knee. "And had a kid, too."

"Likewise." Oliver gave out a half hearted chuckle as he sat down too. "Penny, isn't it?"

"Mhmm. Always getting into trouble or whatnot. Gotta keep an eye on her twenty five seven."

"Huh…Patti's never been like that at all."

"Yeah, I noticed that too when we were traveling with your little girl…she seems like a certain someone I know." Half grinning, the older man shot a glance at Oliver.

"So were you little troublemaker when you were that age? Like father like daughter, I suppose?"

"Hmph." Swaine huffed. "That part of my childhood is none of your business."

"Heh heh, fine." Oliver chuckled weakly. Another silence drifted over the two until the redhead stood up.

"…We should head back to the others. They're probably worried about us."

The older man said nothing as he got to his feet. He rubbed the space between his eyes.

"You okay?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, yeah…just peachy." He grumbled, removing his hand. Tired brown eyes stared lifelessly out in front of him, jaded and worn out. Worry was taking root into his features.

Oliver, anxious to lighten the grim situation, walked in front of the exthief so he could stare at him in the face.

"Swaine, the doctor said if we can get a hold of that beast's saliva, then we can save Esther and Myrtle. I know there's not a whole lot of time on our side, but…we can't just sit around doing nothing!" Oliver said with such conviction it seemed to wake Swaine up from his trance. "We took down the Dark Djinn! We beat the Zodiarchs! If we can take down those guys, then…we've got a fighting chance against that monster!"

Swaine crossed his arms in front of his chest, gazing at his shoes. "…but that was fifteen years ago. We're not as young as we used to be, and we had Esther's help, too."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And I saw that thing with my own eyes."

"H-huh?"

"Had a pretty ugly mug. I barely got out of there alive with Esther."

"…But what if we worked together, like old times?" Oliver continued. "I mean, Marcassin's a Great Sage, I'm a Savior, and you're a…um…uh…"

"A mechanic with a gun."

"Y-yeah! And Drippy, too-"

The older man slapped his face. "Oh no, not him again…" After grumbling his complaint, he paused, lowered his hand from his eyes, and gave Oliver a peculiar look.

"…give me a minute." He mumbled as he stood on his feet and turned back to the bathroom. The lanky man turned the faucet for cold water in the sink, cupped his hands under the liquid, and splashed his scruffy face. Icy droplets slapped against his aged skin as he repeated the process two more times. Once his skin was soaking wet, he turned off the faucet and rubbed a towel against his face. He blinked before turning back to the wizard. "Alright, let's go."

"R-really?"

"Think I was kidding?" Swaine tossed the towel carelessly back onto its hook.

"N-no, just…"

"Sorry. Just a bit shell-shocked for a second there." A thin hand crept up to scratch the back of his neck, his fingers getting lost in stray brown curls of hair.

"Well, okay then."

Before the two could utter another word, the echo of urgent footsteps reached their ears. Running up the hallway towards them was Marcassin followed by a woman and a young boy. By the time they reached Oliver and Swaine, they were nearly out of breath.

"Huff…there you are…huff…" Marcassin managed between pants. "Huff…we've been…looking for you…huff…"

"Marcassin? What's wrong?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"I-it's …" The woman whispered. As she hoarsely spoke, Oliver began to recognize her as Marcassin's wife, Sapphire, from before. "She…another girl…running…ran into them…"

"Eh?" Swaine's mouth twitched. "What are ya' trying to say?"

"Your…_cough, cough_…" Her voice was abandoned as a coughing fit overtook her voice box. The sage held her shaking shoulders caringly as the gravely cough slowly subsided.

Meanwhile the little boy held onto her long blue dress with large eyes. He then saw Oliver, an unfamiliar stranger, and backed behind Marcassin's legs. A shy expression colored his young features as he silently stared at the wizard.

"…"

"U-um…hello." The redhead knelt down, dropping his height to the child's level. This drop of stature didn't make much of a difference on the boy, however, and he gripped even tighter onto the lady's dress. His lips were sealed tighter than a peanut butter jar in a squirrel convention.

The Hamelin emperor suddenly patted the lad on the head. "Benjamin, it's okay, he's a friend."

"..." The child stared at the Sage, then back to Oliver, whispering, "H…H-hello…"

"Relax, Ben, he doesn't bite." Swaine leaned over his knees, getting a bit closer to the boy.

His shoulders tensed slightly as quiet words formed at the end of his short tongue. "Um…Penny…she-"

"What? Pen'?" The man twitched, shifting to a more serious gear. "Is she okay?"

"Um, I suppose so…"

"You 'suppose'?"

"About that," Sapphire said, her voice recovered but still quiet. "While we were returning from the Procession, we ran into Penny in the hall. She was running off with another girl."

Oliver's heart froze. "D-did the other girl look like Penny? But in a blue dress and without a hat?"

Sapphire nodded with surprise painted over her pupils.

"What in God's name were they doing?!" Swaine barked loudly and rubbed his head. "Don't tell me they're playing at a time like this…"

"No, I-I don't think they were." Benjamin stepped out of Sapphire and Marcassin's shadow a fraction. "Th-they said they were going to The Tombstone Trial."

Oliver's mouth nearly dropped to the floor while Swaine's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.

"…WHAT?!"

"T-they were in a hurry, but that's all I know." Benjamin's hands let go of the raven women's dress and folded his hands over each other nervously. "It sounds really dang-"

"When did you last see them?!"

"Why was Patti with her?!"

"Uh…uh…" The boy grew fearful at the two men's bombarding questions. His mouth locked up out of shyness and refused to shape any more words.

"Oliver, Swaine, I think they're after that monster that attacked Esther." Marcassin interjected, saving the boy. "I mean, I can't think of another explanation for that course of action-"

"What the HELL is Penny thinking?!" The mechanic threw his hands in the air. "And how did she talk Patti into it?! That monster nearly _killed_ Esther back there! And now she's on her way to her grave if we don't do something about it!" His rants suddenly switched to a low mutter. "Penny…why? You don't have to risk your neck for this…what's going on in that mind of yours?"

"Well, standing around here won't change anything!" Oliver said with conviction.

"…You've got that right!" Nodding his head once, Swaine grabbed Marcassin's wrist and ran off with the Savior right beside him.

"Wh-whoa!" The Sage struggled to keep up with the other two. "Swaine, slow down!"

"Sorry, Marcassin, we might need your magic for this!" Swaine threw over his shoulder. "You'll just have to tag along on this one!"

"W-wait! I need to get my staff!" The Sage cried while his heels screeched against the smooth tile floor. He looked back at Sapphire staring at him with confusion and a similar expression was plastered on little Benjamin's face, too.

"Sapphire! Benjamin! You wait here, I-I have some business to attend to!"

"Um-Alright…" The woman lightly scratched her slender neck, unsteadily trusting his words. As she moistened her lips, the young boy suddenly left her side and shyly ran towards the three men.

"Ah! Benjamin!"

Ignoring her words, he approached the men, who had momentarily frozen. Benjamin stopped and made eye contact with Marcassin.

"Father, I don't want you to go!"

Oliver's lungs jerked with shock. "F-f-father?!"

"Well, yeah." Swaine shrugged nonchalantly. "Who did you think he was, some random kid? He's pretty boy's spitting image!"

The dark haired boy held onto his father's hand, still focused on Marcassin. "W-what if you get killed?"

Marcassin's eyes grew soft as he placed his free hand on top of the boy's head. "Benjamin, it'll be okay. Oliver and your Uncle are right; they may need my help on this. We're going to save Aunt Esther and Myrtle, together. I promise you I will return alive. We all will." He waved his hand to Swaine and Oliver. "…Won't we?"

"Y-yeah! Of course we will!" The redhead pumped his fists.

"Don't worry, Ben, your Dad's in good hands. Like hell we won't come back still breathing."

Marcassin's eyebrows knitted close together at 'hell' with the look of someone trying to ignore an annoying sibling-which he technically was. "A-anyway…just stay here with your mother, okay? Your cousin and her friend are already in danger, and I don't want to add you to the mess."

"O…Okay."

The sage lifted his gentle hand from his son's head and turned to the wizard and ex-thief. "Alright, let's go."

"Right!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ben and that doctor are OC's. <strong>


	9. Chapter 9: The Thrills of the Chase

The tired sun began to lower in the sky, nearly out of sight. Without its radiance, the sepulchral Tombstone Trial gave off an even eerier air. Sleepy purples and faint pinks splashed lazily onto the sky with thick clouds in bizarre shapes. A purple scaled dragon breezed past one, causing the cloud to crumble in the air. Two people sat behind the flying reptile's green collar, a pair of ten year old girls.

Penny sat in front of Patti, steering Tengri's movements as the other girl scanned the environment below. The girl in blue had a hand over her eyes as her blue pupils searched the enormous graveyard bellow. She suddenly gasped.

"I think I see it! Up ahead!" Patti pointed her finger over the tomboy's shoulder. Standing tall in the distance was the jagged mountain they had flown over just a couple of hours before. The rough surface of the rock made the mountain's silhouette an unnatural shadow.

"Yeah, then this is the place! Hang on!" The bold girl commanded. "We're going in for a landing!"

Clicking her tongue, her scaled steed screeched in acknowledgment and dove towards the ground. The cool air of the deceased rushed past Patti's skin, sending goose bumps up her arms. Maybe she should have grabbed a jacket before they came here…

_"Okay, so we're looking for the monster that poisoned Esther. She fell around here, just after the lighting hit her…and fell…so I guess she'd be knocked out for a moment…wait, did she move from that spot afterwards, or was she too weak to move…?"_

Patti was so locked into her thoughts that her brain failed to register the sound of Tengri's landing as his wings flexed widely, pushing up air.

_Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh_…

"Kyah!"

Tengri planted his hind legs into the soil that held a whiff of decaying mold…or was it flesh…?

_"N…n-no, it's mold! It has to be! Yeah, just my imagination-"_

"Oi, Patti! Earth to Soulmate!"

"H-huh?"

The tomboy glared impatiently from the ground, where she had dismounted off the dragon. "You've been spacing out for a while there. Everything okay?"

"O-oh, just thinking, sorry." Patti chirped nonchalantly as she slid off Tengri. "Got lost in my thoughts."

"No biggie." The girl with the brown hat waved one hand at her soulmate while digging in her pocket with the other. Her hand came out in a fist, holding a small object. She approached Tengri's head and held out her open hand. In the middle of her palm was an unwrapped peppermint. With a delighted chirp the dragon slipped his pink tongue into her hand, grabbing the minty sweet.

"I didn't know dragons liked peppermints." Patti gently scratched Tengri behind the horns.

"Now you do! Tengri loves these things." Patting him on the snout, Penny whispered, "Okay, boy, just hang tight around here for a while, 'kay?"

"Kya!" He licked her on the cheek affectionately.

"Haha, heel boy!" The tomboy whipped the drool off her face and adjusted her cocoa colored hat. "So ya' ready to roll, Pat?"

"Uh-huh!" Patti jogged in one direction and shouted behind her. "I think she fell over there!"

The girl ran up to the edge of a small cliff, overlooking the path ahead. Leafless trees sprouted up from the dark soil. Their branches looked more like steel needles than wooden sticks. A few sparse spots sported thin blades of half dead grass…or at least they looked half dead. In the distance thick headstones let their dark shadows flood out onto the ground.

"Hey, Penny, why are there so many tombstones here? I mean, it's pretty far away and spooky for dead people from Hamelin or Perdida…"

"Beasts me." Penny mumbled as she caught up with her soulmate, staring in front of them. "I heard one time this place used to be a village or something a long time ago and the graveyard is the only civilized thing still standing. After the people around here disappeared, this place became a dead man wonderland."

"A dead man wonderland…" The girl in blue felt a shiver crawl uncomfortably down her spine. She didn't even want to think about what sort of undead creatures resided here. Memories of the descriptions from her father's book about the ghoulish monsters that resided in the area played through her mind's eye. A cold gulp slid uneasily down her throat.

"Calm down, Pat." Penny patted her heartily on the back. "It's not like they have human zombies or ghosts around here. Unless you count the monsters that live around here."

"R-right."

"I guess the Mortui isn't your favorite genus, huh?" Jumping down from the cliff, Penny brushed some dirt off of her skirt and looked up to her partner. "I wouldn't worry about them too much. With Coggette and Tunes, we'll be fine if we run into them."

Patti nodded, carefully stepped down from the cliff, and straightened her dress. A thought suddenly entered her mind.

"Dad and the others must be pretty worried about us by now…"

"We told Aunt Sapphire and Ben we'd gone, and I'm sure they'd tell them." Penny said nonchalantly and walked forward. The other girl briskly walked to her side, tilting her head.

"You seem so calm about this…"

"Huh? Calm?" She quiped. "Are you kidding me? This is the most exciting adventure I'm going to have! I'm anything but calm!" A confident, hyper gleam glazed over her blue eyes. She jogged ahead a couple of meters, paused to turn on her heels, and waved her arm in a blazon manner. "Come on, get a move on! After all, this was your idea!"

"O-okay." Patti ran to Penny's side. "But remember, we're not here to play. We have to find that monster that hurt Esther and get some of his saliva."

"Yeah, we're gonna kick his butt into next week!" Punching her fist into her other hand, the tomboy smirked confidently. However her grin was infectious and her soulmate couldn't help but feel a bit braver.

"Right! Let's go!"

* * *

><p>"Oi, oi, oi…where the flip am I?" Drippy muttered to himself, gazing unsurely around the palace hall. "This place is so flipping big, I forgot my way around. Guess my tidy sense of direction is gettin' a tad rusty…"<p>

Swinging his lantern side to side, the fairy walked sluggishly until his fat nose hit a door that was slightly ajar.

"Oof! Oi?" He rubbed his sore face. As his beady eyes readjusted to what was before him, he recognized the inside of the room; the Hamelin palace infirmary.

"Oi, looks like I made it back in one piece!" The Lord High Lord of the Fairies skipped inside. "I didn't find Ollie-boy or the old crank, but I'm sure they'll turn back up sooner or later!"

As cheerful as a robin, he bounced up on the bedside table between the two occupied beds, each holding a dozing blonde.

"Huh…but I wonder why ol' Swaine just got up an' bolted out on us? Looked proper shaken up, and a bit green 'round the gills to boot." Drippy's mouth grew tight as he pondered aloud. "Did the news make him sick to his stomach? Or maybe he just ate something funny before he got here…nah, that mun's got a stomach of steel. Least that's what I'd assume since he spent fifteen flipping years on the streets. Probably had to eat out of garbage cans or whatnot…"

In the midst of his thoughtful ramblings, Myrtle's face contorted slightly. Her eyelids twitched and a barely audible moan roughly crept past her throat. Then she slowly opened her eyes, a pair of dark blue orbs carefully getting used to the light.

"Mmugh…" Her ears picked up a voice, a pompous welsh accent, prattling to himself. Myrtle rotated her head in her pillow at a snail's pace, feeling every bone in her body ache with discomfort, whining for her to stay as still as possible. She saw a round fairy with a red lantern at the end of his nose pacing on the table by her bedside.

"D-Drippy…?" She croaked.

"Eh? Oi, youer awake, lass!" The fairy quit his mussings and shifted his full attention to her. "How ya' feeling? Any better?"

Myrtle's lips pulled in a peculiar way before she whispered with a gravelly voice, "Not really…Hm?" Her eyes caught sight of another body lying in the bed to her side, just behind Drippy. The stranger's head was turned away at an angle, making it hard to make out any facial features. All the woman could distinguish was the person's long golden hair and the feminine body shape under the covers.

"Wh-who's that? And where am I…?" Myrtle took in her surroundings the best she could with a stiff neck, seeing the Hamelin styled walls and hospital beds.

"Yeah, 'bout that…" Drippy plopped down on the edge of the table, letting his small legs dangle in the air. "You passed out in the street back there, and youer hubby took you here with Marcy."

"Here? Marcy…?"

"Yup, the Hamelin palace infirmary! And youer familiar with Ollie-boy's adventures here, right? Well, Marcy is none other than ol' prince-a-ling!" He paused. "Er, make that emperor-a-ling…'cept that doesn't have the same ring, does it?"

While the fairy spoke, Myrtle turned her attention back to the other bed, sensing the stranger was in a sickly condition as well. She still couldn't see their face, however, and curiosity bubbled up in her mind.

"…Oi? You listenin', lass?"

"…Huh?" The blonde refocused her attention to Drippy. "O-oh, sorry, I was distracted."

"By what? Somethin' here or just thinking?"

She pointed her eyes at the human in the other bed, as she was too weak to raise her arm to gesture with a finger. "That woman over there. I was just wondering who she was."

Drippy glanced at the stranger. "Oi, her? Ah, yeah, she was…beat up by this proper brute of a monster."

"What kind of monster?"

"The doc said nobody knows much 'bout it, and he didn't spill many beans 'bout it, either. All we know is the beast has some proper nasty poison in its claws, and some of it got on Esther there."

Her eyes widened at that name. "E…E-Esther?"

"Yeah…youer soulmate." Nodding his head, he quietly uttered, "…And both of youer lives are at stake here."

"Oh…" She let her head sink deeper into her white pillow, feeling the feathers inside curl around the back of her head. Myrtle licked her dry lips, not sure what to say. Rashaad's words from several days before echoed through her mind's ear.

"_They're both soulmates, and their very lives are connected. If something happens to one… then it would affect the other to some degree."_

"…I'm sorry." A new voice whispered, as if on cue to Myrtle's thoughts. Both the woman and the fairy jerked with surprise, and looked at the stranger's sick bed. The head turned to the side, revealing her pale face and dark blue eyes. She was identical to Myrtle.

Raising an eyebrow, Myrtle asked, "…Y-you're sorry for what?"

"I've been awake for a while now, and I know you are my soulmate from Motorville, Myrtle." Esther croaked. "I got beat up by this monster and now it's putting not only my life on the line but yours, too. It's all my fault…"

"…That's not true." The other blonde stared at Esther in the eyes. "It's not like you purposely ran into that beast. It was an accident."

"Yes, but…" A sad look glazed over Esther's eyes. "I…I don't want to die. Not yet, anyway."

"Me neither…" Myrtle's fingers weakly clutched the bed sheets. After a pause, she said, "...Do you know where Oliver is? I've been sleeping since the Royal Procession, and I can't remember a thing after that."

"I don't know for sure." Esther's gaze pivoted towards the ceiling, staring at the empty air above. "I remember hearing his voice earlier, but then I think he left the room or something…"

"Oh…I see." Slowly blinking, Myrtle took a deep breath and let it out in a sleepy sigh. "…I just hope Patti is okay out there…somewhere…"

"Patti?"

"Yes, my daughter. She…she was with you the other day, wasn't she?"

"Mm-hmm. She told us everything."

"So she's alright?"

"Yes, she's perfectly fine."

A sigh of relief wheezed past Myrtle's lips this time. "Oh, thank goodness. Thank the gods."

Esther smiled, but stopped mid-grin. Like lightening had struck her brain, a thought appeared in her mind. She suddenly looked around the best she could while lying in bed. "…Wait, where's Penny?"

"Penny…? Oh, your daughter."

"Yes, and Patti's soulmate." The desert blonde said. "Do you know where she and Patti are?"

"No…I've been unconscious the whole time…"

"Oi, I wouldn't worry 'bout it much if I were in youer shoes." Drippy reassured the ladies, jumping from the bedside table and standing on the floor. "See, a while ago Swaine got green 'round the gills and ran right outta here. Ollie-boy went after the mun, and I went after him! Or I at least tried to." His gaze fell to the ground, running the flashback of the 'chase' through his tidy mind. "Those two are fast on their feet, and I got separated from them in less than a minute!"

"And the girls?" Myrtle raised an eyebrow, impatient to hear about her daughter and Patti's soulmate.

"My guess is they ran after me, too, or went after their dads on their own. Wherever they are, I'm sure they're somewhere in this palace, and with their daddies."

A shred of doubt still lingered in Esther's eyes. "Are you positive?"

"Of course I'm sure, lass! I'm as sure as I am honest!" He puffed out his chest boastfully. Any doubt in his mind was either invisible or nonexistent.

"O-okay…" Letting her head lean further into the pillow, Myrtle tried to relax her shoulders. Her soulmate did the same, resting her gaze at the other.

"…we should try to get some rest."

"Yes…you're right."

Esther nodded with a weak smile. "Sleep well…I guess…"

After closing her eyes, Myrtle stared out in space a bit longer before giving her eyes a rest, too. Both the blondes fell asleep, leaving the round fairy alone with no one to talk to.

"Hm…'wonder if I should mention they only have less than a day and a half left…" He shook his nose, sending his lantern swinging madly. "Nah, that'd only worry them." Drippy eyed the door, which was half open.

"I wonder how their little girls are doing…I sure hope they're not getting into trouble or whatnot…"

* * *

><p><em>Snap!<em>

"What was that?!" Penny whirled around with her fists at the ready. Her head whipped back and forth eagerly, expecting a monster of an opponent.

Patti, not sharing the enthusiasm, pointed to the bottom of her boot. "Uh…I just stepped on a stick, Penny."

"Aw, man…" The tomboy dropped her hands and head in disappointment. "I was hoping it was another battle or the monster."

Patti said nothing, simply brushing some flimsy leaves off her dress. The dull colors of the plant matter fluttered to the earth next to her feet. They landed into something the girl did not notice before on the ground.

A wide footprint big enough for her to sit in, with sharp holes at the tops of the three toed track.

"Aah!" Patti jumped back a foot with a yelp, capturing Penny's attention.

"What, step in monster poop or something?" As the tomboy came over, her eyes saw the print in the dirt. She gasped in excited surprise. "W-whoa! That's a big one!"

"N-no kidding…" Patti nearly bit her tongue as she croaked, still glaring at the footprint. It was in the perfect shape of a bird's foot with claw marks at the toes. In the eerie moonlight, the claw incisions gleamed dully against the thick soil.

"Hey…" The girl knelt forward to inspect the shine more closely. "Is…Is that…?"

"The poison?" Penny finished her sentence. "Yeah…I think it is!" She looked to the side, seeing another track, and another. "Hey, this'll be easier than we thought!" Wasting no time, the tomboy jogged along the tracks and waved her arm while saying, "Come on, let's go!"

"Hey, I'm coming!" Patti ran after the bold girl, holding onto her satchel strap to keep it from bouncing wildly as she moved. Her soulmate slid down a sharp slope and disappeared from Patti's view. The girl in blue had gathered her dress and was about to decent down when Penny's cry reached her ears.

"Gyaah!"

Penny sat at the bottom of the steep hill but was madly scrambling to get back on her feet. She nearly tripped forward and leaped away from the foot of the hill.

"Hey, Pat'! Be careful when you come down here!"

"Why? Is there a sharp rock there or something?" She asked, looking down where the tomboy was a moment ago. The spot wasn't that much different from the surrounding soil, except for the fact that it was wet and moist.

"You mean the mud?" Patti didn't know how else to explain it; wet dirt was nothing more than mud, right? _"But what's the big deal about a little mud? I don't really like it, but Penny seems like the type that wouldn't mind getting dirty…"_

"That little puddle isn't any mud!" Penny shouted. She glanced at the back of her skirt, grimacing. "I think that stuff's…pee."

"…W-what?"

"Yeah…and there's some po-"

"Um-um-I think I've got it!"

"But it's just that spot. Just jump over it or something when you come down and you'll be fine!"

"O-okay…" Patti held her breath, paused, and carefully glided down. Just before she reached the spot that Penny had warned her about, she pushed her legs against the earth and leaped over the area with ease, clearing the mess with inches to spare.

"Whew…" Now that she was closer, Patti could smell the disgusting stench of the puddle. The reek filled her nose, forcing her hand up to plug her nostrils. "Ick…It stinks…" She commented in a nasally voice.

"Just be glad you didn't land in it…" Penny muttered as her mouth contorted in discomfort at the stain on the seat of her skirt. "Normally I don't mind getting my hands dirty but…this is still pretty gross."

"…Wait a minute…" Patti stepped away from the mud with her eyes glued to the spot. "If it stinks so much and is still wet, then it's-um-still pretty fresh, right?"

"That's an understatement. This stink bomb just-wait, huh?"

"Then I think the monster just came by here!"

"…Oh, now I see what ya' mean!" Penny glared at the continuing trail of prints away from the pile of dung. "Then that son of a jerk isn't far off!" Forgetting her sullied skirt, she bounced up, grabbed Patti's wrist, and the two ran off after the claw marks in the ground.

* * *

><p><em>KER-SPLAAASH!<em>

The ice cold water let out a mighty roar as three large masses fell into the lake. Ripples of liquid floated over the surface for a moment before becoming still. After a minute of silence, bubbles of air emerged from below the water and a redhead popped out, dripping wet and shivering.

"C-c-c-cold!" Oliver managed between violent shakes. There was another splash behind him, where a thin figure with his brown hair flopping over his face like a wet dog's reemerged from the water. He pierced his brown eyes angrily at the younger man.

"Y-y-you j-j-just had t-t-t-to tak-k-ke us t-t-to the Wint-t-ter Isles, d-didn't y-you?" Swaine hissed through chattering teeth as freezing droplets ran down his angular chin. His glare was almost as cold as the air around them, injecting goose bumps into his skin.

Before the wizard could say anything, a few bubbled surfaced the water behind them. These were larger and more furious. It was as though there was a bubble volcano on the surface of the water.

"…Oh crap!" Swaine cursed before he dove back under the near-black water. Oliver floated in his spot, slowly putting two and two together.

One was that the Hamelin Sage was nowhere in sight.

And one was that people who lived in Hamlin probably did not have easy access to swimming lessons of any sort.

The answer to the equation was simple; Marcassin did not know how to swim.

A pair of heads broke out of the water, both panting for breath. However, Marcassin coughed out water while Swaine merely held his younger brother by the shoulder.

"Hah…hah…you okay?"

The sage coughed out another mouthful of water before answering. "Huff...I think so…huff…" He wiped his thick curtain of soaked, black hair out of his face.

"Come on, over here!" Oliver waved his arm for the men to follow him towards the bank. The wizard stepped out of the water first, feeling the snow crunch under his shoes. He rubbed his arms to regain warmth while Swaine dragged Marcassin back to land.

"Huff…Brrrr…" The sage shivered, hugging himself to shield his body from the cold. He could see his breath come out in clouds as he said, "O-Oliver, maybe I should cast the Travel spell this time."

"Sure, just hurry!" Frantic anxiety outlined Oliver's voice while his knees knocked together. "We have to get to The Tombstone Trial to find Patti and Penny, _fast_!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry for the short chapter (well, it's short to me and in comparison to the other chapters), but don't worry, our soulmates will pick up the pace next time, so see you then! And enjoy.<strong>

**Oh, and a quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story, whether here on or on Deviantart, so thank you so much! Everyone loves hearing people comment on their fanfics, and I am no different :)**


	10. Chapter 10: The Trail to the Beast

**Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long, but one week I had literally a big test or quiz every single day, and then The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD came into my life, so I got busy. I hope you enjoy the latest entry to this story! And thank you so much for the support. Every review equals a Christmas present to me, and I try to read every one I get, so thank you for the positive feedback :D**

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><p>The pale moon rose high in the sky like a bright paper lantern, illuminating its shiny silver light down on a pair of girls running past the dead looking trees. They stared at the ground in front of them, following the large animal footprints at top speed.<p>

"Man, how far do these things go?" Penny scratched the back of her neck, bewildered. "You'd think we'd run into that thing by now. I mean, we've been following them forever!"

"More like an hour or so…"Patti slowed down and turned around, looking behind her. "…Uh-oh." She suddenly gasped. "Maybe that stuff wasn't…hm…"

"You mean the poop? It wasn't what?"

When the shyer girl turned back to her soulmate, a look of horror splashed over her features. "…maybe that stuff wasn't the monster's…"

"…oh." Penny muttered. "So I guess I fell in some random animal's poop that happened to be near the trail."

"Yeah…if that's true, then who knows how old these tracks are?" Kneeling towards the trail, Patti cautiously reached to a track, but another hand came out and stopped her.

"Wait, don't! It might still have some poison on it!" The tomboy cried.

Patti gasped and quickly withdrew her hand. She stared at her palm, as if some trace amount of venom had magically made contact with her skin, even though she didn't touch it. The image of Esther's deep, poisonous wounds still remained fresh in her mind, and she didn't want to find out how much damage one little touch could do.

"Darn it!" Penny grunted as she kicked some dirt on the tracks, frustrated. "We don't have all night to find that monster!"

"Calm down, Penny." Patti soothed the best she could. "We can still follow these tracks to the monster, right?" Her voice was a bit unsteady. To be honest, the fact that the trail was not as fresh as first perceived made her uneasy. Esther and Myrtle were running out of time, their time among the living down to a matter of mere hours.

"We…we don't have time to stand around angry." The girl clenched her fists as she stared at Penny. "We have to keep going! These tracks are the only clue we have to that thing, and there's not much time left!"

"…You're right." Looking at her dusty boots, the tomboy said, "We've got a monster to find." Her enthusiasm now back on full power, the brunette dashed along the direction of the tracks and shouted behind her, "Well, come on! Get a move on!"

"H-hey, wait for me!"

The soulmates ran besides the footprints with their blue eyes glued to the ground. As they focused their glares at the ground, the pale moon rose higher in the sky without their notice. The moon was alone in the sky, no stars accompanying it in the inky dark sky. Only a few shady, twisted clouds dared to travel about the sky with the bright moon. Its light hit against the decaying trees and moss coated rocks, spilling irregular shadows on the earth. Neither one of the ten year olds paid any mind to this, and continued to follow the trail with their boots stomping against the lifeless grass.

Eventually, however, their feet cried for a rest as soreness ran through them.

"…You wanna take a quick breather, Pat?" The normally energetic Penny was beginning to slow down.

"O-okay…" Patti hesitantly replied. She didn't want to delay their mission, but her dogs were in need of a break.

"I don't like it any more that you do, but I think we should rest." Penny sat down on a nearby rock, pulled off her right boot, and shook it, shaking a tiny pebble out of it. "It's just for a minute to catch our breath."

Patti dug into her satchel for a moment before situating herself next to the other girl. She handed her an apple.

"Hungry?"

"Sure," Penny took the red fruit and took a large bite, resulting in a sharp snap cutting through the air. "Thanks." She grumbled with a full mouth.

"You're welcome." Stuffing her own apple into her mouth, the girl chewed in silence, unsure what to say or think. Nothing but the crunching and snaps of the juicy bites of fruit ran through the air. If it weren't for the girl's snack choice, everything would have been deadly quiet-quite fitting for a trial littered with tombstones.

"…what time do you think it is?" Patti asked.

"Beats me." Penny shrugged casually. "If there's one thing I've never been caught holding, it's a watch." She gazed heavenward, at the moon, as if trying to tell the time by it. Her eyes grew narrow, concentrating, but with little luck. A quiet sigh slipped past her lips.

"…huh."

"Eh?" The tomboy jerked her attention back to her companion.

"…Oh, it's nothing." Patti shook her head lightly with her pigtails dancing behind her.

"…wanna say it anyway?"

"You told me before you like to tinker with machines."

"Yeah…?"

"Yet you said you've never had a watch before."

Her eyes lit up, like the lightening strike of realization. "Ah, I get it. You think a watch would be the first thing I'd mess with, right?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, if I'm being completely honest here, then I'll admit I did one time a long time ago." She plucked off her hat to examine the interior as she spoke. "Took it apart and made a mess of the thing."

"Did you ever fix it?"

"I needed my dad to help me with that." Penny said. "But the watch…just wasn't my thing."

"What do you mean?"

"A clock just measures time over and over again. I like to mess with stuff that do more than go tick-tock _round the clock_." A playful grin pinched the corners of her mouth at her pun. Her joke earned a light laugh from Patti. Before either of them could say another word, a cool, strong gust of wind rushed past them, shoving Penny's hat out of her grasp.

"Hey! My hat!" She cried. Without hesitation, she jumped up from her spot and dashed after the cocoa brown hat soaring on the wind.

The girl in blue stood up as well, shouting, "W-wait up!" and running behind her friend.

Meanwhile, the wind continued to tease the beloved cap in the air, juggling it with a few decaying leaves. Every time the hat was almost within Penny's reach, the wind would fling it back up above her short arms.

"Oh, come on!" She angrily leaped up with an outstretched arm, but again the precious headgear dodged her hand.

"Get back here, you!"

Another miss.

"Hey, hold it!"

And another.

"Darn it!" She spat.

Patti, too, jumped for the hat, but her luck was equal to her soulmate's; zilch. The wind had no feelings of sympathy for the girls, and never gave up the hat, like a human teasing a cat with a toy mouse.

The annoyance was beginning to get on Patti's nerves, and decided to build up on her speed, passing Penny. Once she had reached maximum speed, she pushed her feet against the earth with all her might and leaped towards the sky. Her delicate fingers nearly brushed against her friend's hat before the wind blew it away with a mighty gust. It ascended into the atmosphere at a sharp incline.

"Hey!"

As her boots hit the ground, the wind suddenly grew tired and let Penny's hat embrace gravity. Before it could hit the ground, however, it got ensnared in the lifeless branches of an extremely tall tree. The thick twigs protruding from the grey trunk held onto the hat tightly, refusing to drop it.

The duo halted at the base of the towering tree. Both girls bent their necks back, letting their heads point towards the sky and getting a good view of the top branches.

"Pretty high up…" Patti whispered. She turned to face her soulmate, but was surprised to find the spunky girl not standing beside her.

"Huh? Penny?"

"I'm up here!"

She glanced back in the direction of Penny's voice. Holding onto the stiff bark of the tree and climbing up, the tomboy waved back at her from her perch.

"Don't worry about me, I climb trees all the time back home!" She grinned.

"O-okay, but be careful!"

Penny flashed a quick thumbs up before continuing up the tall tree. Her hand would grab one branch while her foot stepped onto another. Carefully ascending towards her hat, the energetic girl never hesitated to look back or bothered to see how high she was.

Meanwhile Patti stared nervously at her brave friend. She was at least five yards above the ground, maybe six. The earth beneath Patti's trusty boots was anything but soft, and if Penny fell…from her current height…the results would be anything but pleasant.

_"Calm down, Pat,_" Patti shook her head to clear away her subtle fears. _"Penny probably knows what she's doing, and those branches probably only look half dead…"_ Her fingers twiddled idly with each other, overrun with unspoken nerves.

"Grrr…"

Patti took a sharp breath, her body frozen at that unwelcoming sound. Not daring to move, her pupils crept to the corner of her eyes to discover a pair of agitated, creepy monsters. Each creature looked like a mummified egg with two thin legs, yellow eyes, and an unsettling grimace. Eggrolls, local familiars to The Tombstone Trial…and were not in a sunny-side up mood.

"Uh-oh…Tunes, come on!"

At that command, the bird familiar leaped out of Patti's chest in a brilliance of blue light, landing squarely at her feet. Tunes blew his horn at the ground as if spitting at the monsters that dared to even think about harming his master. His horn buzzed threateningly in an ominous B-flat.

The sounds of the small battle by the tree failed to reach Penny's ears, and she never paused in her climb. Her hat was just a measly couple of yards out of her reach.

"Almost there…" Her hand clasped around another thick branch. The tree's sickly appearance betrayed its physical characteristics; it was surprisingly study and firm despite the pale bark on top. An excellent climbing tree, she thought. Or would have, if she wasn't so focused on the prize at the top.

She was barely an arm's length away from the brown hat. Penny reached out as far as her arm would stretch. "Just a little bit more…" Her fingers brushed gently against the chocolate colored headwear before snatching it.

"Ha! Gotcha!" She yelled with triumph. The girl slapped it back onto her head with a confident grin. At last, her most beloved, treasured accessory was back where it belonged; over her peanut butter colored hair.

"Man, I just don't feel like myself without this th-eh?"

Her eyes grew focused, taking note of something far in the distance. Up at the near top of the tree, she was blessed with an almost complete view of the haunted area. What she was staring at so intensely was an unanswered mystery. She was simply a ten year old girl gazing at the dark distance with her short pigtails fluttering softly in the wind…unaware of the events that transpired below.

"Hyaah!" Patti shouted as she swang the thick stick she had picked up, using it as a sword. The branch cut into the Eggroll successfully, defeating the creature. With a squeaky cry, the monster disappeared in a puff of dense smoke.

"Ther- wait, where's the other-?"

She whipped her head around in a semi-panic. The other Eggroll flexed his small legs, ready to pounce on the girl, but a Shonky Tonker jumped between her and the enemy. Tunes inhaled deeply, and blew out a mighty, ear-splitting note that screeched through the air like long nails against a chalk board. Patti planted both of her hands over her ears firmly as her eardrums burned with pain.

A horrifying cry erupted from the Eggroll's throat-he was unable to cover his aching ears (if he even had them…) and received the full blast of the note. The bird's strident horn blared like a siren on double volume, finishing the beast off with sheer sound.

After the attacker had gone poof, up in smoke, Tunes nodded his beak sharply, spun on his fat heels, and stuck his musical note tail brashly into the air. He skipped back to his master and nuzzled the bell of his horn against Patti's leg, purring a soft C sharp.

"Good boy, Tunes…" She knelt down to pat him on the head, feeling his violet feathers tickle her fingers.

"HEY!"

The girl and familiar looked up in the direction of Penny's yell. She was scurrying down the tree with a peculiar urgency and leaped off the hat-catching tree.

"What the heck was goin' on here?"

"O-oh, just a couple of Eggrolls. We took care of it!" Patti said as Tunes jumped happily into her arms, nodding in agreement. "Oh! You got your hat back!"

"Yeah, and you won't believe what I saw from up there!" Penny pointed back up the tree. The other girl suddenly noticed the faint, frantic gleam in the tomboy's eyes.

"W-what?"

"I think I saw our monster!"

* * *

><p>In the moonlight, three thin shadows spilled over the ground, each one connected to their caster's feet. Oliver was in front, eyeing the path before him, with Swaine and Marcassin behind him, also scanning their spooky surroundings.<p>

"Jeepers…" The wizard scratched his head. "Those two could be anywhere…" He felt dizzy as he stared at the map of The Tombstone Trial in his hands. A pair of ten year old girls in this place was like two pieces of thread in a pile of wire.

"No, not just anywhere." Swaine suddenly blurted, now by Oliver's side. He held out his hand and said, "Give me the map, will you?"

The redhead handed over the parchment. Squinting his dark eyes, the older man pierced his glare into the paper. Swaine then pointed his finger at a spot on the map.

"…I'm pretty sure Esther fell around here, and somehow ended up…here." He gestured to another nearby area on the paper.

"What do you mean, 'somehow'?" Marcassin held his chin in thought, visualizing the terrain of where his older brother's finger was.

"…that's where I found that monster attacking blondie." A bitter taste bubbled up in his saliva when he spoke, sickening him.

"Oh…" Oliver looked at the horizon, in the direction where that spot would be. A tall, needle sharp mountain could be barely seen behind the haze of the air. "…hey, Swaine?"

"Ey'?"

"What did that monster look like?"

The older man slowly turned his head away as his eyes grew out of focus in thought. "…Pretty big brute, 'bout maybe nine feet tall. Had a couple rows of teeth, too."

"Sharp ones…?"

"Yeah. Looked like his cousin was a shark."

"Anything else…? Besides the, um, poisonous claws?" Oliver asked, a bit timidly. A dark emotion was slowly brewing in Swaine's eyes, making the other man a bit fearful.

However, the lanky man did not lash out his answer, but simply said, "His body looked a bit like a wolf or something, but that's all I can remember. I don't even know if it's a he or she or what."

"The doctor did mention not much is known about the beast…" Marcassin's voice tailed off. "Is that all you can recall? I mean, you did see it, did you not?"

"I got a glance at it, but I was paying more attention to Esther and getting us away from it. That, and it was dark, so I had a hard time seeing in the first place." He pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. "And now there's a chance that thing's going to…harm the girls…ugh…"

The Savior placed his hand on Swaine's right shoulder. "I know…but there's a chance that they haven't run into it yet, and a chance that they're alright." However, his optimistic words died as he muttered, "I hope…"

_"Oh god, I hope so. Patti, Penny, __**please**__ be okay. Please, please, please…Just be okay."_

"Right…" Swaine buried his bony hand in his scruffy hair half heartedly. "Yeah, a chan-" His gaze froze, aiming his eyes behind Oliver. "Uh-oh."

"What?" The redhead turned around. "J-jeepers!"

A trio of belligerent Bougies growled at the men, eyeing them. Their ghostly bodies radiated a spiritual glow while their mouths contorted into fierce grimaces.

"Looks like we've got a welcoming party here." Swaine snorted as he reached for his pistol.

"Then let's deal with them and get back to finding Patti and Penny!" Marcassin raised his colorful staff with the blue gem at the tip giving off a royal gleam.

Oliver remained silent, instead nodding his head and praying that his old familiar was still alive in his heart somewhere.

* * *

><p>Penny held her palm above her eyes as she scanned her surroundings impatiently. "I know I saw it here somewhere…" She huffed and frisked ahead. Meanwhile, Patti stuck close to Penny's heels and took in the details of the area, looking for clues.<p>

"See any footprints, Penny?"

"No, not yet!"

The girl's mouth shaped into a frustrated frown. Her soulmate's impatience was infectious and she too grew restless.

"Are you sure it was around here?"

"Sure am!" She barked. "I'm telling you when I was up that tree, I got a good view of the place and saw this _huge_ thing roaming around here!" Penny spread her arms apart to emphasize the importance of the beast's size.

"Hmm…" Patti hummed in thought as she let her weight fall behind her, leaning against a decaying yet sturdy tree. She felt the goose bump bark prickle her skin and back through her dress while sensing her pigtails pressed against the wood. Her face turned up, as if the midnight sky would reveal a clue or two on what to look for.

"Let's see…we're looking for a big monster…with big claws…um, and the foot prints looked like a bird's, so I guess …hm?"

She paused, noticing her soulmate's surprised expression-or at least some emotion akin to that. The spunky girl's blue eyes rested just behind Patti.

"I-is something wrong?"

"…Uh, you may want to back away from that tree."

"Huh?" Curiously twisting her neck, Patti glanced at the bark of the tree she was using as a support.

Several thick claw marks striped the tree, still glistening with fresh poison, dangerously close to Patti's body.

"G-GYAH!"

She didn't waste any time jumping away from the potential death trap. Nearly tripping over her feet, Patti stood shakily, glaring at the spot she so foolishly stood a moment ago.

"Oh no…Penny, is there any venom on my back?" The girl frantically tried to look her backside herself, but this task was futile.

"C-calm down, Pat. I don't see any…" Penny said. "Besides, now that I think about it, I think it only affects us when it gets into our bodies."

"Oh, yeah…Phew, what a relief." She wiped her forehead free of imaginary sweat.

"Yeah, no worries." Her voice suddenly shifted to a new gear. "But those scratches on the tree do look pretty recent…"

Patti looked back at the poor, poisoned tree. Each scratch was an inch thick and an inch deep, and came in sets of four, three on one end and one on the lower part. The moonlight brought out the shine of the deadly liquid.

"Wait, if they're that fresh, then that means that monster was here!"

"Hey, yeah! And not too long ago either!" Penny took a short step closer to the trunk, inspecting the bark. "…Yup, no doubt that this is from our little friend. No mistake this time around!"

"Huh? 'This time around'?"

"Remember those tracks we were following earlier? When I fell into that poop?"

"O-oh, right! We thought those tracks weren't as old as they were…"

"Mm-hmm, but now we've got a no-doubt-'bout-it lead on our side now!" Penny suddenly paused, a passing thought sparking into her brain. "Wait, but why are there scratches here in the first place? That thing eats meat, right?"

"Um…maybe it was sharpening its claws? Like a cat does?"

"Oh yeah…seems pretty legit."

"Uh-huh!" Patti chirped before her tone fell down on a lower note. "Wait…but what do we follow now? I don't see any more tracks around here…"

The duo looked around for anything resembling a trail or a path, a clue…anything. Nothing reached their line of sight, but a faint, suspicious sound did find its way to their ears.

"Wait…Penny, did you hear something?"

"Yeah…something smells fishy…or sounds fishy."

They eyed the trees, bushes and ground warily. Following their ears, Patti and Penny walked as quietly as possible, save the occasional stepped-on twig or leaves, dull crunches or a soft snap. Even their breathing was on mute, barely daring to so much as an audible huff or sniff. After sneaking for a minute, the two girls came face to face to the small entrance of a cave. Due to the overgrown curtain of plant matter covering the entryway, it was only about three feet high and three yards wide, big enough for a small man to squeeze into if he ducked his head.

"It sounds like it's coming from here…" Patti whispered, still tuned in to the strange sound. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it sounded like something thick being torn apart like raw meat.

She gulped her fear down her throat and looked at her partner. Penny nodded with determination clouding over her sapphire eyes. The girls crawled under the top of the cave entrance, stepping over rough rock and soil, walking into the belly of the cave.


	11. Chapter 11: The Showdown of Strength

Patti and Penny's boots crunched against the gravely soil lining the cave floor while enormous stalactites hung from the roof like sharp fangs of rock. Dozens of stalagmites rose up from the ground between spots of gravel, making the cave feel more like walking through a shark's jaw. Lining the ceiling were odd glowing rocks spotting the cave with dim, cool lights. Without them, the girls wouldn't have been able to see two inches before their noses.

"Psst, Penny." Patti whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Listen…the only way I have to defend myself or fight is with Tunes, so I don't think I'd be much of a help on the front lines…But I can keep track of our provisions and stuff." The girl patted the satchel still clinging to her shoulder, filled with a couple of mild coffees and sandwiches. She and Penny had stolen-er, borrowed-supplies from the Hamlin palace's kitchen before their departure.

Penny froze in her tracks and turned around. She held her chin with her right hand. "Right…Okay, then, here's the plan; you hang back with Tunes fighting for you. Coggette and I'll be out in the front dealing some damage with your familiar. If you or me get in bad shape, then we'll count on you to heal us, 'kay?"

Patti blinked. "Wait-you'll be in the front, too?"

"What? I can duke things out myself, too." The tomboy took a wide fighter stance while digging into the back pocket of her plaid skirt. She pulled out a wooden object in the shape of a Y with an elastic orange band stretched between the upper branches.

"A…slingshot?" Patti stared curiously at the weapon in her soulmate's hand.

"Hey, it's not a toy!" The girl barked, mistaking Patti's phrase as doubt. "I'm a dead shot with this thing and my trusty slingshot can really pack a punch!"

"O-oh, I didn't mean it like that, really! I just didn't know you had one…" Patti waved her hands in front of her chest while nodding her head.

Penny stretched the orange band back as she spoke. "Well, I promised Mom and Dad I wouldn't cause any trouble with it, so I didn't pull it out 'till now." She picked a round pebble from the gravel beneath her, pulled it back with the slingshot, and aimed for a far off stalactite. "Watch this, Pat!"

Penny released the rock, and the pebble flew away at lightning speed before hitting the base of the rock formation. After it bounced off and fell to the ground, a crack crawled around the stalactite. The heavy mass of rock fell down and pierced the ground with the fat end in the air like an ice cream cone.

Patti felt her saliva slosh nervously down her throat as she gulped, surprised. Meanwhile Penny spun the slingshot effortlessly around her fingers, grinning.

"What'd I tell ya'?"

"Wow…you're pretty good!"

"Thanks!" The tomboy chirped. She walked up to the broken rock formation and leaned against the end once attached to the ceiling. "Just wait until our 'little friend' gets a taste of it!" Penny winked, but at that exact moment, she pushed her weight too hard against the upside stalactite, and toppled over with it.

"W-whoa!" _Thud!_

"Penny!" Patti rushed to her soulmate. "Are you okay?!" She offered her hand, which the other girl grabbed as she got back on her feet.

"Yeah, fine," Penny brushed some dirt off her skirt. "Just-"

Before she could speak, a loud, strange echo brushed past the girl's ears. It was a peculiar sound…a noise hard to describe.

"W-what the heck is that?" Growing still, Penny cupped her ear to tune in on the echo, and her partner did the same.

"It…It sounds like…" Patti whispered, letting the sound sink into her ear drum.

_Crunch, smap…cmunch, cmuch, cmunch…_

"…Bah, just listening isn't gonna get us any answers!" Penny barked impatiently. She grabbed Patti's wrist and dragged her with her.

As the duo marched in the direction of the sound, the shyer girl observed the interior of the cave. Dozens more stalagmites lined the top with matching stalactites below. Every now and then a stray drop of water would run down the smooth rock and drip down, but the water droplet hardly made a sound, just a barely audible plop. It almost felt like a faint, steady heart beat inside a living animal. Where the water came from was a mystery to the young brunette.

But that wasn't the only thing unsettling about the sharp rocks. When Patti looked closer, she found sharp slash marks on several. A couple even had their pointed ends chopped clean off. She gulped, shivering as her mind fantasized how on earth such a thing was possible.

Her quivering spread to her hand as it gripped onto Penny's hand. Pausing in her tracks, the girl in brown turn around to face Patti.

"…Hey, it'll be okay, Pat."

The said girl gasped softly as her mind came back down to earth. Penny went on.

"We've got a killer plan, don't we?" She flashed a grin brazenly.

"…Yeah. And some killer familiars, too, don't we?" Patti chirped back.

"Mm-hmm! Let's go!"

Penny jogged with Patti, keeping up as she ran deeper into the cave. They felt the grey, gravely ground pound against their heels. After galloping like that for five minutes, the duo came face to face to a corner. The bizarre sound cut crisply though the air from that corner.

Patti rooted her feet and pulled her soulmate back. She whispered, "…W-we can't just run in like that. We have to be careful."

Penny nodded, and let the other girl walk slowly in front of her, as quietly as she could. The girl peeked around the bend. She found a large open area of the cave, like a room, with a huge pit in the middle. Patti snuck closer, taking in the fifty yard diameter of the hole. The brunette crept closer with her matching friend behind her. As they took a few more steps, the unnamable sound grew louder and clearer.

Taking a deep breath, Patti took one more step forward before lowering her body to the ground and crawled to the hole's edge. She quietly glanced into the pit, leaning her head over just a smidge.

Her breath froze midway through her throat.

Opposite to her in the hole was the back of a massive creature with unnatural purple fur. From the ground to the shoulder blades it was nine feet tall with the torso of a wild dog. However, instead of paws, this beast had sets of claws akin to a hawk's. And the tail was not something you'd see on an everyday animal. Leathery skin replaced thick fur with a sharp horn at the tip. The bizarre sound echoed from in front of the animal, which was occupied doing something.

"Th…th-that's-!" Penny stuttered before her soulmate gently slapped her palm over the tomboy's mouth.

"Shhh! We shouldn't let it know we're here yet!" She shushed.

"Oh…S-sorry."

"It's okay, we just have to be careful." Patti turned her stare back to the target. "…Now how to attack it…"

As the beast went about its business, oblivious to the girls, Patti took a careful look of her surroundings. Her blue eyes scanned for something-anything-that could be used to her and Penny's advantage. Aside from the great pit before them, this part of the cave shared all of the characteristics of the tunnels the duo had traveled moments before. Hard rock for floor and ceiling, pointy stalagmites for decorations, and curious glowing minerals for light fixtures.

The shy girl snapped out of her trance when her ears picked up Penny's strange breathing. Her eyes were slowly squinting shut and her mouth grew ajar in jerks.

"Ah…ah…ah…"

"…Oh, no, not now!" Patti hissed. She bolted around and reached out her arms to stop the sneeze, but her hands were too late.

"Ah-CHOO!"

Every bone and joint in Patti's body tensed as the sneeze's echo vibrated through the air. Clenching her teeth nervously, she turned back to the hole. The monster's head perked up abruptly and whipped around, revealing its face to the pair.

Crimson red pupils shone their knife sharp glare into the girl's souls. The wolf body had betrayed the mouth, for it was an eagle's beak, not a dog muzzle. Despite that, drool oozed from the corners of the mouth with stray pieces of fresh meat dangling from it. Penny gasped, realizing what the sound from earlier was; the sound of thick, raw meat being torn apart and devoured.

"Oh, man-"

"Penny, stay here!"

"Hey-what?" The tomboy barked as the other girl slid down the side of the pit.

When Patti made it to the bottom, she yelled, "Try to do something with your slingshot from up there! I'm going to distract it!" and headed towards the monster, waving her arms madly. "Hey, you! Over here!"

An ominous growl slid up the beast's throat, showing tiny needle-thin teeth. This creature was an erratic, bizarre hybrid of a wolf and a hawk and rage. He turned to her slowly and lunged forward.

"Aah!" Patti shrieked and ran off to the side. The beast's claws sank into the hard ground where she once stood. With a fierce growl, he chased after the brunette.

"Just hang in there, Pat'!" Penny snatched a rock besides her boot and pulled it back with the elastic band of the slingshot.

"Eat this, Fido!"

Her fingers let her ammunition fly from her and to the monster. It merely hit 'Fido's' shoulder harmlessly. He didn't even register it as he continued to case after Penny's soulmate.

"Darn it!" She cursed angrily, stomping her foot like a rabbit's.

"Try aiming somewhere else!" Patti shouted as she ran. "Somewhere more vulnerable!"

"Right! Just hang in there while I find a better rock!" The spunky preteen disappeared from the edge, searching for the perfect rock to launch.

Meanwhile the less-rambunctious girl tripped over her feet and fell to the gravely soil. An "Ow!" squeaked past her lips as her face hit the ground. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the enormous monster tower above her head. Any color left in her face was drained out by fear.

_"On no, no,no…think, Patti, think! Don't just lay there! You have to do something!"_

A growl bubbled up from the monster's throat.

A whimper slipped past Patti's vocal cords.

…and a "Leave her alone!" bombed out of Penny's mouth.

With a sharp snap, the pebble in Penny's weapon was released and zipped through the air right into Fido's beak. The rock hit the sharp bill spot on, sending a quick shot of pain into the monster's body. He grunted and whipped around to the other girl.

Penny tugged her lower eyelids down as her tongue left her mouth. "Nyaaah! Take that, you oversized furball!"

Fido snorted, kneeled to the floor, and jumped effortlessly out of the pit. He bared his unnatural fangs at the now frightened tomboy.

"W-whoa!" she yelped as she galloped away from the hybrid. "No one told me he could jump!"

"P-Penny!" Patti clumsily got to her feet when she felt the hem of her dress catch onto something on the floor. Puzzled, the girl looked down, shocked at the sight of human bones latching onto the robin egg blue fabric.

"A-ah!" She swatted her dress off of the white bones. Patches of dirt sprinkled the skeleton here and there. The bones were definitely not fresh, but not completely ancient. Patti's eyes trailed down the arm bones to the right skeletal hand.

The lanky finger bones curled lifelessly around a foot long stick with an orange orb at the tip. Bronze decorations lined the area connecting the stone with the rod, gleaming faintly in the light. Patti cautiously but curiously reached out and pried the dead hand open, removing the stick.

Her eyes traced over the smooth rod and fire colored gem at the top. Something about it radiated…power? Energy?

…Magic…?

"A-a wand…!" She gasped. Confused, she glared back at the skeleton.

_"I guess he-er, or she-was a traveling wizard who ended up as Fido's dinner or something…"_ she thought, now eyeing the wand in her hands. The question was, did it work? Who knew how old the wand was?

…One way to find out.

"Hey! PATTI!"

Penny's yell snapped Patti back to her senses. She blinked and jerked her line of sight in the direction of her soulmate's distressed voice. The spunky preteen was running in circles around the edge of the pit with the brute animal at her heels, threatening to bite her feet off.

"Don't just stand there!" She barked with fright lining her voice. "Do something before I turn into Fido's next snack!"

Patti's fist tightened around the handle of the wand while she prayed that the wand still had some life left in its runes. She dug into her satchel and pulled out the thick Wizard's Companion. Madly flipping past the aged pages, she scanned for the spell chapter. After a hairy split second, the pages froze and the book floated from her hands.

"Fireball!"

A flickering ball of flames blossomed at the tip of her wand after she drew the rune in the air. Not wasting any time, she aimed her wand and released the sphere of heat towards the venomous monster.

The fireball crashed into Fido's flank like a volley ball coated in hungry flames, sending the hybrid monster flying into the wall with a hard thud. A strange combination of a whimper and an aggressive growl came from him as he got back to his feet. Midway up, a pebble shot out and hit him square on the beak yet again.

"Haha!" Penny boastfully said. "Take that, Fido! You've been one bad b-"

She stopped midsentence as Fido chomped at her leg, nearly succeeding. "Hey, watch it! This is my favorite skirt!"

He snorted, unimpressed, and leaped back into the pit, landing right in front of the wand baring girl.

Her mind worked at top speed as she cried, "Tunes! Body blast!"

The purple Shonky Honker emerged swiftly from her chest and slammed his feathery body into the ground, sending strong tremors through the soil. Fido lost his balance and nearly fell to his side with daggers in his eyes. Meanwhile the brunette took the chance to put some distance between the enemy and herself, still cradling the open book in her other arm.

Once again, The Wizard's Companion hovered in front of her as her wand outlined another glowing spell in the air.

"Pulse!"

An invisible blast shot out to the beast in several punches. He grunted loudly in pain, feeling bruises forming beneath his fur. Before he could shake his head to clear his mind, a shrill horn blasted a D-flat right into his eardrum. The monster screeched at the sound and attempted to bite the bell right off of the horn. Tunes back flipped at the last second, avoiding the would-be cruel fate.

At the same time, Penny found another suitable rock to launch, and stretched it back in the slingshot. Sticking the tip of her tongue out of her mouth in concentration, she carefully aimed for Fido's rump, and let go of the slingshot strap.

The rock must have hit a sore spot, for when it pinched the target, he roared out in pain. He pierced his fiery glare at the tomboy as she tensed her body under his gaze. Before she could flee, the monster's horn tipped tail whipped the side of her face, forcing her to lose her balance. Wasting no time, Fido cut his tail into the cliff near Penny. The solid rock grew crumbling cracks and became free to fall into the pit-and sending the girl down with them.

"Aah-ow-eech-ooch-ow-ooh-ack-ow!" She yelped as she fell down into the pit. The girl finally landed on solid ground with her feet in the air a bit comically before they came down and pulled her back upright.

"Hey, what's the big idea, fleabrain!?"

An evil growl slid past Fido's teeth. The angry hybrid sliced his tail against her body like a whip, without mercy or sympathy. She gritted her teeth while the horn pierced her thin skin, leaving bleeding cuts behind.

"Fireball!"

Patti's cry drew the monster's attention from her soulmate as another crackling orb of flame shot out towards him. He hissed sharply as it made contact with his neck. The enraged beast lunged for the girl in blue, but she sidestepped from his grasp.

"Penny! Are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, fine!" Penny looked gravely at her cuts. Faint blue venom frosted over her blood and sent mild stings into her body. "Just stay away from his tail! It's got poison on it, too!"

Patti sent her familiar to distract Fido while she ran back to her partner's side. "W-what do we do now? We don't have that much time!" She said while eyeing Penny's injuries.

"W-well, the sooner we knock out Fido and get his spit, the better!" She barked. "Don't you have a powerful spell in your book or something?!"

"Uh-I think so…" Patti muttered as she furiously flipped through The Wizard's Companion. Runes of every shape and design flashed in front of her in the form of pages. However, a large beak with fangs suddenly tore the book out of her hands and shook it violently, like a frustrated puppy would with a squeaky toy. The old book was torn to shreds of aged parchment and fluttered to the ground in messy piles.

Patti and Penny stared at the remains of the book with shock and lost hope. The shyer girl raised her hands to her open mouth while the other stood still, agog.

_"First Dad's old wand…now this…oh no…"_

The hybrid creature was not in the mood to wait for the duo to recover from their shock. He let loose a ferocious roar in their faces, sending their pigtails dancing behind their heads.

"Patti, stand back!" The spunky preteen shoved the other girl back. "Coggette! Sand blast!"

An orange light bounced out of her chest as the Sprog Cog summoned a miniature sandstorm and let the fine grains pelt the monster's eyes. Fido hissed as his vision grew blurry with itchy sand. A golden, glimmering sphere of light floated out from the monster and grew attracted to the mechanical familiar.

"Time to let loose, girl!"

Coggette felt energy surging through her gears and power flowing along her circuits. The energy from the golden glim sent faint sparks of electricity into the air, orbiting around the Sprog Cog. With a high pitched howl, the familiar let the Bolt Shower explode in a storm of strength.

Lighting bolts flashed about the hybrid as their electrified edges cut past his body. He jerked erratically as every nerve in his body was electrocuted by the miniscule familiar's miracle move. Even after the familiar was done with her move, the brute's fur still tickled with charged electrons.

Before he could glare at the responsible Sprog Cog, she was summoned back into her master's chest, exhausted. Penny stared at the bizarre monster with a rock hard emotion in her eyes.

"Whatcha think of that, Fido?"

His response was his claws slapping across her body and shoving her to the wall, letting more venomous fluids sink into her bloodstream.

"Uugh!" Penny spat, tasting her own blood.

"Penny!" The other girl shrieked. "Tunes, distract Fido!"

Tunes nodded with resolution and ran towards the target. He jumped on his back and parped his horn rudely while Patti dashed to her soulmate, who had collapsed to the ground. She bent over and lifted the girl off the earth, pulling her away from the occupied monster.

"Penny, are you okay?!"

The tomboy winced before speaking. "Y-yeah, just a scratch!" Her eyes suddenly widened. "…Wait, are you okay?"

"Huh…? Um, I think so…?" Patti said, rubbing her neck. She had to admit her head and legs did feel a bit light…but it couldn't have been anything life threatening, right?

"Don't you remember our moms?!"

…The girl nearly dropped her wand as the light bulb went off in her head. Esther, Penny's mother, was heavily poisoned by life draining venom from the enraged monster…and Myrtle, her own mother, not sporting even the slightest scratch yet slowly dying…

It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

"If you're hurt, then I'm-_cough, cough_!" Patti's throat became seized with a gravely cough. A sick feeling began to bubble in her gut.

Before they could question their conditions any further, a distressed musical note resonated through the air. The monster swatted the Shonky Honker away, and the brave little familiar tumbled weakly towards the girl's feet. A squeaky E-sharp blew past his beak.

"_T-Tunes_!"

Patti scooped the shivering bird into her thin arms, trying to warm his feathers. Her blue eyes grew worried as they stared at the feathery bundle she held. She felt his life as if it was her own; weak, tired, and quivering with pain.

The girl shut her eyes and let the musical bird disappear into her heart. After the familiar vanished, she reached into her satchel, pulled out a pair of triangular sandwiches, and held out one to Penny.

"Here, eat this. After you do, stand back."

"W-why?" Penny asked, accepting the sandwich and taking a large bite out of it.

"I…" She bit into her own sandwich quickly and chewed before finishing. "I'm going to try something."

"…'Kay." The tomboy mumbled with a half full mouth, feeling a bit of life return to her. "I trust ya'." Penny brushed the bread crumbs from her fingers and began to jog behind Patti, saying, "But if you need my trusty slingshot, just say the word; I'll be ready!"

Her optimistic voice betrayed how her body felt, however. The preteen plucked a rock from the ground sluggishly, feeling as if someone had injected a gallon of lead into her blood. As she straightened back up, a swimming sensation prickled in front of her eyeballs. Fido's venom was starting to take its full toll on the girl.

Her feet, drowsy with poison, clumsily ran into each other. "Whoa-OWCH!" Penny collapsed to the hard earth. As her head knocked against the ground, the impact sounded like a supernova bomb going off in her brain, leaving her dazed.

Patti whipped around, noticing her soulmate's trip. "Penny!"

The monster took this lapse in Patti's concentration to strike her. He promptly shoved her to the side, sinking the tips of his claws into her skin.

"Oof!" She fell to the rough soil. Her hand nearly let go of her newfound wand. Loose dirt brushed onto the side of her face while she struggled to reopen her eyes. The beating her familiar had undergone earlier left its fingerprints on the girl's health.

As the young wizard slowly pushed her torso up with her arms, the grotesque monster approached the other girl, who stubbornly glared back at the face of death with her slingshot in her hand.

"D-don't even think about laying a single claw on me…F-Fido…" She spat. Gritting her white teeth, she gradually made the band grow tight, loaded with three small pebbles. When the brute responded with a defiant snort, she narrowed her eyes.

"Fine. You asked for it."

She let the ammunition fly out of the slingshot and straight into his eyes. The beast reared his head, leaning on his hind legs in agony. Patti knew this was it; her chance to turn the tide for good, now or never in a million years. Mustering all of the strength she could from her weakening muscles, she scrambled over in front of her soulmate and wildly waved her wand in the air.

_"Please be right, please be right, please be the right rune…"_

"**Thunderstorm!**"

The shimmering stone outlined a jagged line followed by a crisp horizontal slash. Patti prayed with every fiber in her body as the rune remained stiff for a moment before glittering with electric sparks.

"It…It worked-? W-whoa!"

She didn't have any time to think over her success of conjuring up a spell strictly from her fuzzy memory; the magic surged through the short wand like a strong current, sending it jerking all over the place to the point that the brunette needed both hands to keep it from slipping out of her grasp.

That same tameless energy flowed out in rough pulses of charged electrons, infecting the air. Somber black clouds magically grew along the ceiling of the dim cave and circled around the mammoth sized monster. Before Fido could register what was transpiring about him, the sparks ignited and conjured deadly blades of lighting in midair, piercing him in every single nerve of his being.

Meanwhile, the preteen still struggled to keep her wand in her hands. She bit her lip in frustration, feeling her stamina grow short.

"J-just hold still, please!"

A second pair of familiar hands came over her shoulders and clasped around her own fingers. She didn't need to peek over her shoulder to know they were Penny's. Patti could feel her soulmate's presence behind her, lending every bit of strength she could.

"J-jeez louise! Did you put this wand on a caffeine high or what?!" The tomboy said through a toothy grimace.

"I-I don't know! But just hang on!"

The lightening show intensified, pumping more electricity into the monster's body. With a final, blinding flash of light accompanied with Fido's screeching cry of agony, the spell electrocuted the animal to a crisp. He stood still for a second before faintly coughing and collapsing under his own weight.

The wand grew as still as a boulder, no longer commanding magic to pour out. Patti and Penny relaxed their grips and fell to the ground; Patti on her knees and Penny on her bottom.

"Whew…" Huffing a sigh, the spunky girl wiped her forehead, icing the back of her palm with sweat. She sarcastically added, "Well, that was easy."

"Y-yeah…" Patti pulled out a glass bottle from her bag, feeling as if she barely had a drop of energy left in her.

_"But I have to do it…this is the reason we came here and fought for. For mom, and Esther…and now us…"_

Too tired to walk, she chose to crawl towards Fido instead. She approached his head, and gazed curiously at his beak. For a brief moment she pondered on how it was possible that a beast with such a mouth produced spit; birds didn't drool, did they? But then again, this guy was a mix of a mammal and a bird…or at least looked like it was.

She poked the tip of her wand at the beak, trying to find a suitable way to safely obtain the antitoxin drool. There was already a bit of poison in her bloodstream, and Penny had suffered from some deep, venomous cuts. The last thing everybody needed was a dose of infection.

A throbbing pain suddenly pulsed through her head. Her eyes became heavy as a whine of objection squeezed out of her lungs. Everything in her head and around her felt fuzzy and out of focus. Not even her senses wanted to function properly anymore as her weight slipped to her left, pulling her body down with it. From head to toe, she thought her body was filled with two tons of cement.

"…Patti…!"

Someone called out her name; her ears seamed to at least work in a low gear. Or maybe it was just her worn out imagination… but then it came again, with more voices…low, adult voices. Of course, they sounded muffled through her exhausted eardrum. Her body didn't even fully register that she was now held in a pair of strong arms.

"Patti! Patti, say something! Patti! Wake up!"

"Penny! PENNY!...No…n-no, this can't-! Penny, open your eyes, _damn it_!"

"Oliver, Swaine, be careful! We shouldn't move them-"

"Patti, just wake up! PATTI!"

…anything else the strangers said was lost on the girl's ears as she became lost in her blank unconscious.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ah, finally, a nice chapter with more meat on the bones! I feel like all the other chapters were too short, but this one really has some more detail. Tune in next time for the grand finale of this tale! :3<strong>


	12. Chapter 12: The Bitterness of Farewell

Black. The purest shade of black. That's all Patti could see at first. However, her conscience was steadily creeping out of her coma state. Light from the outside world began to filter out the darkness. Once her awareness had perked up a notch, her eyelid muscles decided to twitch. She cracked her eyes open a fraction, blinked at the light, and raised up the curtain of her eyelids.

"…Mm…?"

As she licked her dry lips, the girl tried to focus her vision on the blurry brown sky. Wait, no-it was the ceiling. A bronze colored ceiling with orange glass lights. Turning her neck to the side, she saw walls similar in design with mighty columns lining them. The regal interior was an ill match to the hospital style beds standing side by side against the wall.

Her brain sparked up the image of the Hamelin infirmary from her memory photo album. Overcome with realization, she sat up with a gasp. She let the oxygen enter her lungs, fueling her brain with air to think. One second she was lying exhausted on the cave floor, and now in the Hamelin palace. How in the world did those two puzzle pieces fit together in this mystery?

She then registered a dip in the mattress she occupied. Patti glanced at her side to find a mass of red hair resting against the bed, buried in a pair of folded arms. The body it was attached to rose up and down gently, asleep.

"…D-Dad?" Patti whispered hoarsely. When the man didn't budge, she lightly poked one of his arms. "Dad?"

"…Mmph-huh?" The man mumbled. His head groggily rose up and his blue eyes flickered open. They then grew wide as they adjusted to the preteen before him.

"Dad!"

"P-P-Patti!"

The girl nearly leaped out of the bed to embrace Oliver. He buried his face into her peanut colored hair as he held her tightly to himself.

"Oh, Patti, thank goodness you're awake!"

Patti clung onto his yellow cotton shirt before pulling away suddenly with wide eyes. "Wait-w-what happened? How'd I get here? And where's Penny?"

"Don't worry-everything's okay now. And your friend's right behind you." The Savior pointed over Patti's shoulder. She turned around and found, lying in a bed with her mouth open mid-snore, was her spunky soulmate. Her cocoa hat dangled from a bedpost at the foot of bed, giving her hair the freedom to spread out where ever it wanted. Sitting in a nearby chair was Swaine, dozing off in a similar but louder manner.

"Penny!" Patti cried as she swung her legs over the bed and dashed to her friend's bedside. She leaned over and stared at her face. "Penny, are you awake?"

"Zzz…whuh…?" Lazily opening one eye half way, the tomboy looked at her visitor for a moment before turning over with the thin covers pulled around her while she mumbled, "Five more minutes…Zzz…"

Patti remained silent for a second before sputtering out a giggle that escalated to a laugh. Oliver chimed along with her as he walked over to his daughter's side. This laughter must have acted like an alarm clock, for the lanky ex-thief had returned from dream land.

"Zzz…eh…?" He mumbled. "W-what time is it…?"

Patti blinked as that question swiftly slipped into her mind. For the first time since waking up, the girl got a good look at herself. No longer clothed in her favorite blue dress, she wore a plain white gown over her small frame instead. Her feet were bare of her boots and her hair stripped of their pigtails.

"Dad," Patti whispered. "H-how…how long were we asleep?"

The man was about to answer, but was cut off as the older man came back to his senses with a slow yawn. Swaine rubbed his jaded eyes before glancing at Patti. "Mmm? Patti?"

"H-hi, Swaine."

He didn't reply, shifting his gaze to his daughter. Hesitating for a second he reached out his bony hand and tapped her shoulder. "…P-Penny…? Hey, you awake?"

The man tapped a couple more times before she turned over to her other side, grumbling, "Oh, c'mon, it's Sunday…"

"P-P-Penny!" Swaine cried, overjoyed. He excitedly shook her shoulder. "Penny, get up!"

"Mm…alright, alright…" She moaned in a drowsy tone while slowly sitting up in her bed. As she raised her head, her caramel hair bunched around her face like a wild mess of straw. The girl stared into space half awake, and then shook her head.

"Huh?" Penny whipped her head around, hastily absorbing her surroundings. "H-hey, this isn't the ca-"

"Penny!" The preteen was cut off as Swaine hugged her abruptly. He buried his nose into the crown of her hair affectionately. "Oh, thank god you're alive…" He muttered to himself.

"Oof, pfft, Dad, your stubbles tickle!" She said as she held his lanky arms in return. "Hehe, not so tight!" Somehow she managed to push herself gently away and look him in the eyes. "So, what happened? Like why are we here?"

"Yeah," Patti chirped quietly, "How did we get here? From the cave, I mean."

"Well, after we found out you two had run off," Oliver explained, "we got Marcassin to tag along with me and Swaine and used Travel to go after you guys." He paused for a moment as his expression switched to a stern one. "Patti, Penny, why on earth did you two go to The Tombstone Trial alone?"

"We just wanted to help!" Penny interjected loudly. "There's no way the Hamelin soldiers would have found Fido, get his spit, and get back here in time!"

"That doesn't mean you have to go and pull a stunt like that." Swaine narrowed his eyes at the tomboy. His previous joy had melded into anger. "You could have been ki-hurt, or worse! What in the Sages were you thinking, Pen?!" By this point the thin man had stood up to his full height and glared down at his daughter.

"Dad, I-"

"W-wait, Swaine!" Patti dashed to her soulmate's side protectively and held a hand to her chest. "I-it wasn't her fault! It was my idea!"

"…What?" He blinked. "_Your_ idea?"

"Yes, so…if anyone should be in trouble, then it should be me." Her head hung down as her shoulders grew slack. "I just didn't want to see Mom and Esther…d-die…"

The man's body language froze. His lips twitched, unable to form any words and unsure of what to even say. Before he could recover, his spunky daughter spoke up.

"Wait, what about Mom and her soulmate? Her name was Myrtle, right? Are they okay?!" Penny swung her legs off of her bed, staring up at the man. "Well? Are they?"

"O-oh, yeah, they're fine." He said. Patti and Penny's blue eyes lit up like a pair of Christmas lights.

"R-really? They're okay?"

"Aw-YEAH!" Penny punched the air ecstatically. "We did it! Woo-hoo!" She jumped in the air until a bony hand pinched her ear sharply.

"OW! Hey, what's the big idea, Dad?!"

"That still doesn't change the fact that you ran off without anyone's permission." Swaine growled.

"W-wait, I did have permission!"

"Eh? By who?"

"By me! And I told Aunt Sapphire and Ben where we were going!"

"Ugh…" Slapping his hand over his eyes, he gritted his teeth. "Neither of those cases count, and you know it."

"Ehehe…" The tomboy scratched her neck sheepishly. "W-well, since we didn't die, you can cut me some slack, right?"

"You're going to be grounded for three weeks. End of conversation." Swaine crossed his arms firmly over his chest.

"What?! Aw, c'mon!"

As the father-daughter duo bickered, Patti cautiously crept away to Oliver. She whispered, "Dad…I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make everyone worry, but…I couldn't just stick around and let Mom and Esther die." Her fingers fiddled with each other. "I…I was really scared…back when I saw them…and when Penny and I were fighting-"

Patti felt a hand land on the crown of her head. She looked up to the Savior's eyes.

"It's okay, Patti. What matters is that you and Penny are alive."

"And Mom…?"

"She's fine, thanks to you." Oliver said, "We collected the monster's saliva and brought you two back to Hamelin with it. After the doctor gave you the antidote, he treated your other injuries."

"…how long were we asleep?"

"Yeah, you asked me that earlier…" The redhead hesitated for a breath as the girl stared at his face, eager for an answer.

"Two days."

"Two…days?" Patti repeated, stunned.

"Well, almost two and a half, counting today."

The brunette looked around until her eyes landed on a wall clock with its pendulum swinging back and forth in the air. Sure enough, the hour hand rested on the eight while the second hand rested a hair past the six.

"So…it's morning?"

"Mm-hmm."

"What about Mom and Esther? Are they awake?"

Oliver stood up from his seat and straightened his posture. "I don't know…but we can go and see for ourselves."

"That won't be necessary."

Patti and her father jerked their attention to the direction of the male voice. Standing by the door was Marcassin with his trademark staff in his hand.

"M-Marcassin!" The girl stared at the man. "What do you mean by that?"

Grinning, he stepped away from the door, revealing a pair of women standing in the hallway behind him. One wore a long blue dress and simple sandals, while the other was clothed in a more exotic shirt and long purple skirt. Both, however, had long golden hair, creamy pale skin, and cobalt blue eyes.

"Mom!"

"Patti!"

The girl sprinted to Myrtle and swung her thin arms around the woman's neck.

"Oh, Patti…" The blonde whispered. "I've been so worried about you…"

After a tight squeeze, Patti pulled away to look at her mother in the eye. "I'm glad you're okay, too, Mom." She glanced to the other lady at the side. "And you, too, Esther."

The said tamer smiled and reached out to ruffle Patti's hair. "Same here, Patti." She then turned her head to see her oblivious husband and daughter still arguing. At that moment, Swaine was firmly pinching Penny's right ear.

"Ow! C'mon, Dad, we got the spit! Can't you cut it to two weeks?"

"Sure, when Hurlabaloo's fly." He grumbled sarcastically. "Listen, you and Patti could have been dead meat if we didn't find you in time! You nearly gave us a heart attack!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, really!"

Swaine let go of her ear and stared blankly at Penny. He pinched the bridge of his nose with closed eyes, thinking.

"Either way, we're both still going to get an earful from your mother..." He sighed.

"Mm? Why you?" Penny cocked her head to the side. "Did you get into trouble while we were away or something?"

"No, for not keeping _you_ out of trouble."

"Aw, but I was just trying to help Mom and Myrtle!" She whined. "I still don't think that counts as 'trouble'."

"Oh, but it does." Esther took a step towards the pair, staring at them. Both of them froze to stare back at the tamer.

"Esther!"

"MOM!" Penny galloped from her spot and to the blonde, jumping into her arms.

"Mom, mom, mom, you're okay!" She chanted excitedly.

"Yes, and I'm happy you're alright, too, Pen." Esther patted the girl on the head as she held her close. After a brief embrace, she put the girl down.

"But from now on, don't ever, _ever_, run off like that again. Understand?"

The tomboy pouted. "Aw, Mom, I was trying to help! Thanks to me and Patti, you're all better, right? Can't you give us a little credit?" She stepped to the side, grabbed Patti's hand, and pulled her soulmate to stand closer to her. Penny stared up at her mother stubbornly while her partner in crime simply gazed at Esther.

"…Fine." She sighed and knelt down to look at them straight in the eyes. "Patti, Penny, I thank you for bravely and selflessly venturing out and finding the vital saliva. I admit if it wasn't for you two, Myrtle and I wouldn't be alive. But," Her tone grew low, "if you ever-_ever_-do something like that again, then you will be grounded for an entire _month_. Do you understand?"

Both of the brunette's eyes widened. They nodded a "Yes, ma'am."

"Good!" Esther chirped, standing straight. Then she eyed the lanky man. "Alright, Swaine, now it's your turn."

"Huh? Me?" He pointed to his chest with a raised eyebrow. "…Oh. For not keeping an eye on Pen', right?"

"Right." She waltzed over and tugged him away by the collar of his shirt. "Now we need to have a little chat!"

"Ow, hey, not so hard!" He cried while being dragged away. "I'm sorry, I was feeling sick, really!" Just before they reached the door, he desperately grabbed onto the door frame, haulting them in their tracks for a moment. "They slipped out while I was emptying out my stomach! Oliver can vouch for me, really-hey, ow!" Esther wasn't willing to let go of the man, and tugged him away from the door and down the hall, with his protests growing fainter.

Patti glanced at her father, grinning. "They still argue like in your book, Dad."

"Yep. Still like an old married couple." He chuckled.

"You've got that right, mun!"

Oliver, Patti, and Penny flinched with surprise at the Welch voice. Everyone in the room, including Marcassin, shifted their gaze to the door, where a round fairy rolled out at top speed. The Lord High Lord of the Fairies skidded to a stop at Patti and Penny's feet.

"Oi, there, girls! Glad to see that you two are up and about!" Drippy spun in a circle as he spoke a mile a minute. "Could hardly believe it when I heard you two had run off to that oversized graveyard to find that spit and save youer mums-blimey, nearly wet my knickers I did!" He was pacing absent mindedly at this point. "Worse part was I couldn't go and save you myself because Ollie-boy and the others had already left, and I may be the tidiest fairy to ever live, but catching up to them at that old cemetery would have been like a hitting a bowling ball with a tissue, mun!"

Drippy shook his lantern and turned his attention to Marcassin, who was still standing by the door. "And after waiting for what felt like a flipping century-bam!-Marcy here slammed open the door with Ollie and Swaine right behind him with a pair of lifeless lasses in their arms!" He paused from his long rant and moved his attention back to the girls. "Oi, oi, oi, that was NOT a tidy sight. You two really gave everyone a proper bad scare!"

Patti stared at her feet as she rubbed her big toe into the ground. "Sorry…we should have left a note or something at least."

"Yeah, heh heh…" Penny chuckled half-heartedly. "B-but we were in a hurry, see? We didn't have time to do something like that!"

"Well…at least everything worked out in the end." Oliver grinned, walked over to Patti, and lifted her up in his arms. "So, Pat', ready to go home?"

Her eyes lit up for a second. "Ye…" Yet the light in her eyes suddenly fell. She craned her neck behind her to look at her spunky soulmate. The current of emotion in Penny's face shifted in a heartbeat from bright joy to sharp disappointment.

"W-w-what?! You're leaving already?" She whined.

"W-well, we've been gone from Motorville for several days, and everyone there is probably worried sick." Oliver's eyes hovered to the side, uncomfortable. "I really wish we could stay, but-"

"But-But everyone's back together now!" Penny cried. "You, my mom, my dad, Uncle Marcassin, even Mr. Drippy! Just when the whole gang that saved the world is together again, you decide to high tail it out of here? Without even a good-bye?!"

"Penny…" Marcassin bit his lip, unsure of how to calm his niece. "I-I'm sure Oliver wasn't going to leave without saying farewell, at least."

She stared at her uncle for a moment, then to Patti and Oliver, and then dashed out the door.

"Oi, Penny!" Drippy called out, but the girl was already galloping down the hall. A few seconds later, her muffled voice boomed from further away.

"…can put off your argument for later; Patti's leaving!"

The girl reappeared from the doorframe, but now dragging her parents behind her. Swaine nearly tripped over his feet while Esther skidded to a stop. Before either of the adults could speak, Penny spun towards them.

"You gotta talk them out of leaving right now!" She cried. "Even if they could stay a couple of hours is fine! Pleeeeeeaase?" Penny slapped her palms together and bowed her head, begging. "I just want to play with Patti some more!"

"Pen', I…I think that's up to Oliver." Swaine scratched his curly hair. "I mean…I'm sure he's got some friends back in Motorville worried over him and his family."

The brunette raised her head and stared up at him with a pair of extra-shiny, sweet blue eyes glistening with cuteness. "_Pretty pleeeeeaase~?_"

The lanky man merely rolled his brown eyes. "Nice try, Pen, but I became immune to that look ages ago." He deadpanned.

Her face fell, and her once crystal-dazzling eyes went down with it. "Aw…" She grumbled.

Esther's delicate hand patted Penny's peanut butter hair lightly. "You really want to spend more time with Patti, don't you?"

The child nodded silently.

Patti jumped down from Oliver's arms and walked to her friend's side. "I do, too." She stared up at Esther.

The blonde nodded. "I know how close you two have gotten between traveling with us and embarking to The Tombstone Trial for that saliva. But whether or not Patti can stay for a little longer is up to Oliver and Myrtle."

Penny's expression glazed over with reluctant defeat. "…Okay." She finally huffed.

"You just had to inherit that stubborn streak from your father, didn't you?" Esther smiled jokingly.

"Hey, I heard that, you know. " The scruffy man barked. Esther coyly shrugged with a raised eyebrow.

Meanwhile, Patti glanced at her mother, who harbored a sad look in her ocean blue eyes.

"I…I wish we could stay, Patti." Myrtle's eyes glued themselves to her shoes while she wringed her hands with one another. "But we've been away from Motorville for several days, and I'm positive that Phil and Mrs. Leila and everybody else back home are still looking for you…along with me and Oliver, probably."

"The lass is right, Pat." Drippy suddenly leaped onto the girl's head, holding Penny's paperboy hat. "As much as I hate to see you and Ollie-boy go, it's for the best that you head back to your world lickety-split."

"Mm-hmm." Patti nodded, nearly tilting the fairy off of her head.

"Tidy." He said and tossed the hat in his tiny arms on top of the other soulmate's hair. "Ya' all tidy with that, too, Pen?"

"Yeah…" The spunky girl adjusted her hat as she looked at her quiet soulmate. "Just…just come back and visit sometime! Alright?"

Patti's smile reflected the emotion in her eyes. "Of course we will! You can count on that!" She quickly glanced at her father. "Won't we…?"

"Well, of course we will, Patti!" Oliver exclaimed positively. "You can count on that, or I'm not the Savior!"

The girl giggled and ran to her father, hugging him as she looked up.

"I'm ready to go when you and Mom are."

Oliver reached for a nearby satchel, slipped his hand into it, and retrieved an orange tipped wand from its depths.

"Wait-isn't that…?" Patti asked.

"The very wand you found back at that cave. We've got the rest of your things in here, too." The redhead replied. "Pat', Myrtle, hang on tight."

Myrtle walked to the wizard's side while Patti held onto his free hand. As he drew the Gateway rune that started this crazy adventure in the first place, she looked to her soulmate, waving at her family.

"Till next time, Pat'! Don't keep us waiting for too long, alright?"

"Okay! You too, Penny!"

Penny continued to wave with her toothy, spunky grin plastered on her face. Behind her, Esther, Swaine, Drippy, even Marcassin waved their good-byes with her.

"See you soon, Oliver!"

"Yeah, and don't be too good, remember? Heheh!"

"Come back to our world soon or else I'm gonna start calling you crybaby buntin' again! Ya hear me?"

"Farewell, Savior! And farewell, Myrtle and Patti!"

Patti smiled at her new friends. "Good bye, everyone!" Oliver and Myrtle waved back as well while the shimmering blue light of the spell steadily rose from the ground. With a handful of enchanted sparkles and a beam of bright blue magic, the spell whisked the family of three away from this world and back into theirs.

In the fleeting moments before they vanished, the timid girl caught one last look at this world's version of herself; a confident, rambunctious tomboy with a big heart. The other girl gazed back at the gentle, kind girl with a brave soul. Even though they had their differences from their fashion senses to personalities, the duo had formed an invisible, invincible bond.

With one last smile at each other, the girl's lost sight of the other, knowing the tale of these two soulmates wasn't ending…it was just beginning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well, this is it, everyone. The closing chapter of my NNK fanfic. Thank you so much for your support and reviews! It's crazy to think I started this back in January and spent nearly six months on it. This one's my longest fanfic yet. I may do more with my soulmate OC's here, but not for a while. In the meantime, 'till we meet again. :3<strong>


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